When It Rains It Pours
by MyPillow
Summary: "Thats what they say at least. Kick them when they're down. It looked so bleak for a while, but maybe now I can finally start looking up." Naruto was broken. He sees them everywhere. His family and friends that he wasn't able to save. His old world gone, all dead. Now thrust into a new world with a bitter heart, what can he do to learn to live again...? Chapters Re-uploaded!
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone! I just wanted to let you guys know that this is my first Highschool DxD crossover, and also that this is, in fact, A THREE WAY CROSSOVER. Technically it's a 4-way, but I'm only stealing one character from a different anime. It's mostly involving Naruto, Highschool DxD, and the third anime Highschool of the Dead.

So it's a crossover Naruto/Highschool DxD/Highschool of the Dead. One character took from Koe no Katachi. Fantastic movie if you've never seen it. I recommend.

I have a pretty big Author's note at the bottom of the chapter, and I hope you take the time to read it. **IF YOU ARE FROM OTHER STORIES OF MINE, SUCH AS 'DECEIVING THE APOCALYPSE' AND 'HACHIMAN THE HERO' please take the time to read that if you are readers of those books. Thank you.**

Disclaimer. I don't own any anime of the stories, not Naruto, HDxD, or HoTD, or Koe no Katachi. Nor do I own any references I make towards other anime or products.

Without further ado… please enjoy...

" **Speaking."** Kyuubi speaking

" _ **Thinking."**_ Kyuubi thinking

"Speaking." Person speaking

" _Thinking."_ Person thinking

 **~~o0O0o~~**

 **When It Rains It Pours**

CHAPTER 1

 **~~o0O0o~~**

The cigarette burned between his fingers.

His blank stare bore into the white, cracking paint. Quietly beside him, he heard rustling. He was perfectly aware of her presence. She was no threat to him, after all. She had been there the whole night anyway. He could hear her slip her panties back on, head into the bathroom and start to brush her teeth.

Pale fingers brought the stick of poison up to his lips. He took a drag. He didn't care about all the warning signs on the box. It wouldn't affect him anyway. He swirled the smoke around in his mouth, waiting a little longer than necessary before it seeped into his lungs. It took a while to get over the psychological sense of breathing something that wasn't air - like breathing underwater.

It tasted terrible.

Like household chemicals thrown into dry twigs, crushed and thrown into paper. How could anyone enjoy this taste? It was dry and hot, but it healed him from the headache that he knew he didn't have. It was nice. To feel it burn in his chest. He breathed out his nose, the smoke drifting into his nostrils. It was a putrid smell.

How fitting. Even smelling something this horrid doesn't erase his memory of the smell from that day.

"Naruto?"

Dull blue, almost gray, eyes slowly shifted over to the other person in the room. A brown haired girl stood there. She was kind of pretty. Oddly placed facial features. A nose too small for eyes that wide apart. A face full of freckled, hidden make up caked on. She looked like a racoon…

She smiled hesitantly at him, "Where did you say you put the money again?"

He resisted the urge to sigh. His hauntingly empty eyes closed and he took one last drag of his cigarette before placing it in the ashtray next to his bed. He ran a hand through pale blonde locks, long and shaggy. He needed a haircut. Well, he needed to actually take care of it, a more accurate way to describe his hair. It wasn't greasy by any means, but he didn't care anymore if it looked 'fashionable' or not. He's fine with anyway it looks now as long as it didn't bother him.

He almost snorted.

He stretched his legs briefly, as he got up for the day. He coldly walked by the girl in the room, ignoring the cold air on his naked form. He navigated his clean, but run down apartment until he got to his wallet. A simple black one. He took out a couple bills and placed them on the counter, not even bothering to hand it to her.

He walked by her again, stopping by the fridge to grab a drink. He pulled out a brown bottle, using his own hands to pluck off the metal cap. He took a sip of the shitty beverage, feeling the burn of an acquired taste.

"Drinking so early?"

Once again his eyes drifted to his company, who was now fully dressed as she pocketed his cash. She looked disappointed in him, one hand on her hip. He merely took another sip before looking out the window of his kitchen. Ah. It looked nice out.

She sighed before plucking the beer bottle from his hand, taking a sip for herself. He merely watched her, studying her. She sighed and handed back the bottle to him.

"You're hopeless, you know that?"

He grunted a response, downing the rest of the drink in his hand before he placed the bottle next to his sink. He headed into his bathroom, walking away from the girl in his room. He was paused briefly by the hand that caught his wrist gently. He didn't look at her.

"We'll do this next month, yeah?"

This time he actually peaked over his shoulder at her. She looked hopeful, yet at the same time...she was in despair. Not that she even realized she was, but he could see it in her eyes, an underlying layer. He had met her around a year ago. She was a lost soul, broken by the world around her. She had been wandering the streets offering herself to anyone willing. Naruto had simply walked up to her, and handed her a huge amount of money, telling her to simply come to his apartment once a month. He'd always pay before, and the morning after he'd pay for a taxi for her.

It wasn't anything romantic. Simply two souls needed a brief physical relief from whatever it is they both dealt with. She never asked questions about him and he never gave her any reason too. He returned the favor for her as well, and she never wanted him to ask. It was better that way. He didn't even know her name. She only knew his because of the name on his mailbox.

He halfway turned to her, noticing her eyes flick to her hand, and letting go like she would be attacked. He noticed that about her. Her skittishness. She acted this way every time she believed she overstepped any boundaries. It was pathetic.

He simply nodded at her. "Yes, next month."

She release a breath she didn't know she was holding, smiling gently. Naruto turned and walked away from her. He could hear her open the door to his apartment, and she called out a farewell to him. He didn't respond.

He turned on his shower, and looked at himself in the mirror, mindlessly brushing his teeth. He couldn't go to school smelling like sex, booze, and cigarette smoke...now could he?

Has he done this before however? Yes. Yes he has.

He studied his face, noticing the slight stubble of hair growing on his chin. Three whisker like marks were on each cheek. They were dull, but still present and noticeable. He felt like they were much darker before, not as though he could possibly prove it right now anymore.

His pale locks hung in front of his eyes. Ah, maybe he will have to adjust it. He grabbed the scissors that he kept close to the kitchen sink, and grabbed the chunk of his bangs and cut them to an appropriate level. Now able to see without a hindrance, he nodded. His hair was definitely long, shaggy, and uneven. Not long enough for a ponytail, but he could feel it touch the base of his neck. It covered his ears, but not a bother.

He hopped into his shower and quickly, efficiently, cleaned himself off.

Noticing the time, he noted to himself that home room would have been starting at this point in time. Ahhhh...sensei is going to chew him out again. He debated not even going today, thinking about the hassle. There was nothing interesting to do today however. Maybe except draw some more memories…

He walked to his room and quickly got dressed, putting on his school uniform, and a simple white t-shirt. They were cheap, and could be bought in bulk. Simple enough.

Naruto grabbed his backpack and hid away a couple kunai and shuriken in various hidden holsters. He had a wave of different types of seals that he had tattooed into his left forearm. People never questioned it, because to an average person, the tattoos would look like some sort of tribal tattoos. These seals on him carried various things, each and every one of them either being important or some sort of item he held close to his heard.

One seal that was on the palm of his left hand happened to hold his old headband.

He started to walk to school and pulled out his pack, pulling a cigarette from it. His mind wandered as he meandered to Kuoh Academy. He really shouldn't smoke another one so soon, but he had developed this as a coping mechanism in a way. It was the most socially acceptable way to remind himself that he was still a living person.

Three years ago he had arrived. Bloody and defeated. He had killed Kaguya, but he didn't win the war. No, he didn't win anything.

Naruto had landed in the streets, barely breathing. Nobody had helped him, as he crawled his way into an alley. Slowly he healed as people walked by, choosing to ignore his presence. The shop owner that had taken out trash every night had kicked him once and told him to quit being a burden on society.

What a shitty place.

He only recieved nourishment from the garbage next to him, hardly having enough energy to leave the alley, much less search for something more sustaining. His wounds had, unfortunately, been severe enough to kill him. He could still remember how sore he was when he stood to his full height, stretching and walking out of the alley. He was dirty, smelly, and broken.

He was surprised that this world seemed to have spoke the same language as him, although it was slightly different. He could understand, but he soon realized that _he_ was the odd one out, with an accent that he never really paid attention too.

He had wobbled off, intent on fixing his accent, and intent to find out about this world. He had shown up in a place called Japan. The world was big, with many different countries, and races, and religion. He was shocked at the diversity. It was a bigger world than his, although his world had much more bloodshed.

He still had his chakra, and he could use Kurama's chakra, but he had locked his own subconscious away from the furry beast. He doesn't want to talk about him. Not now, not then. How could he face his friend, his partner and tell him how he had utterly _failed._ Simple answer?

He couldn't.

So he didn't.

Naruto had learned about the currency, yen, they called it. Somewhat similar to his world's of ryo. His shadow clones were very useful in his information gathering. He was in a place called 'Kuoh Town'. An interesting name. The place itself was somewhat big, maybe a little smaller than Konoha.

Japan itself had no military so to speak due to a world power called 'United States of America'. Instead they called it a 'defense force'. Shinobi and ninja don't exist in this day and age. They did however have them, apparently. This world's ninja had been strictly taijutsu users, with no knowledge of any supernatural abilities. They used kunai and shuriken, and were known as assassins, or killers.

Naruto's ninjas and this worlds ninjas were very close, but still so different.

He learned that if there was anything he needed...it was money. This world ran on money. It was now more about world play and who you knew, more than it was about how strong you were, and who could beat each other up. A much difference society than he was used to. And it was that conclusion that he had determined to hide any and all abilities. He felt guilty, trying to live in a different world. But nothing he could have done to fix this situation.

He wasn't mentally weak enough to just kill himself.

Dying is easy they say, it's living that's hard. And he was fed up with death and bloodshed. His eyes adjusted themselves to his surroundings, finally realizing that he was at the school entrance. God how had he hated it here. Thankfully classes had started so there wasn't anyone wandering around on the campus.

Kuoh Academy.

It was a prestigious academy. Holding a primary, middle, high, and university. Currently he was in his last year with a threat of being held back this time. He'd have to improve his grades enough to show that he had no intention of being there another year.

It wasn't so much that he had hated being in the school itself, or the lessons. His younger self would scream in shock and disgust. He used to hate school, hate learning and rather be playing outside or training. Now he's very impartial. It does a good job of distracting himself from the curse of everyday civilian life. How mundane, how monotonous. It was like he was living the color grey, only shades of black and white mixed together.

What he didn't like about the academy itself, were the people. How he hated these students. So many of them stuck up in their own little clouds believing that the sky belongs to them. Give him a break.

It was his first day of school itself, which meant he had the opening ceremony. He was late, no surprise, interrupting the principle, who was giving a good luck speech. He meandered up to a lone chair and immediately plopped himself down on it and closed his eyes from exhaustion. It wasn't his fault he needed to work a double the night before. Of course doing something like this was _bound_ to start some whispers.

The girl next to him was a prissy looking girl. She turned to the person next to her and said in a loud whisper, "He smells like cigarettes. So gross." She then proceeded to scoot her chair away from him, giving him a look that he's seen more than once growing up.

Combine that with his dead-to-the-world look, his messy clothes, tattoos, and blonde hair, and they had immediately chalked him up to be nothing but a delinquent. Tch. Two minutes in and he already had a reputation. He just wanted nothing to do with these people, and he wanted to get all of this over and done with.

Of course, with the reputation of a delinquent, many people had decided to put him in his 'place'. Students attempted to physically bully him, trying to show their dominance to a being that they had deemed completely under them.

What a shitty place.

Naruto had tried to ignore it, trying to simply live an easy highschool life. His patience left him quickly after a week of the abuse. It only took one try to get the other students to leave him alone. They tried to take some money from him, so they could buy lunch with _his_ money. He had broken their arms.

Since then they've left him alone, physically at least. But instead they realized that he wouldn't retaliate if they didn't cross a line. They stuck to verbal abuse only. And that was something Naruto could handle, quite easily as well.

"Oh look, it's him again."

"The stupidest one of us."

"It's the delinquent!"

"Sssssh, he'll hear us and beat us up!"

"What a piece of shit, how could anyone act the way he does?"

"He's so gross."

"I heard he works for the Yakuza."

"He doesn't care."

"An asshole, that's what he is."

"I heard he's an orphan. I bet he killed his parents."

"If I were his mother, I think I'd rather just kill myself than have him as a son. Maybe that's what happened."

"His dad probably raped his mom, and she just left him."

"He's a _monster_."

At first he was surprised when he heard how dark some of their whispers could get. But eventually he just shrugged it off, like he usually does and continued on with life. Naruto walked through the empty hallways, heading towards his homeroom. He pulled out his iTube made by PEACH. It was easier to handle, and less troublesome if he just ignored what they said, and looked down. He made a note, never to look anyone in the eye. For whatever reason, it just sparks something inside them, and their peaceful face turns into a sneer of disgust.

Maybe this wasn't another world. Maybe it was hell, and he was being tortured for what he has done. Maybe he doesn't care. Maybe he is just a piece of shit. Maybe he is an asshole.

Maybe he is a monster.

He'll have to just live up to the name they gave him. It doesn't matter anymore. It won't ever answer. He just has to deal with them for one more year. And it'll all be over. It's just one more year. He could do it easily and he will.

That said, there were some students who were completely neutral towards him. Even nice. Whether it was pity, or if it was some other malicious feeling. He could count them on one hand, though. And despite those people, there were some that he could tolerate as well, not caring if they hated him or not.

Naruto turned his music on and stopped in front of his classroom door, opening it discreetly. His shinobi training has allowed him to be silent as the night, but alas, his presence would still be declared. Not by him, but by his sensei.

"Uzumaki, late again today."

Naruto took one of his earbuds out and trudged towards his desk in the back. His desk was scribbled on, and scratched on. Words of hate wrote there. There was even a used tissue on his desk. He grunted at the teacher as a response and threw away the tissue.

Teshima Arato frowned at his number one problem child. Uzumaki Naruto. The boy just didn't care. He was completely in his own world, day dreaming the whole day and spacing off. He wanted to connect with the boy, and he wanted to see him do well. But the blonde barely had passing grades, just doing enough to earn the credit to pass high school and graduate. It irked Teshima.

The sensei was a tall man, built but was a little chubby. Even he had to admit. He was gruff, and easily irritated, but a passionate man. He had black hair and wore a blue shirt at school. It just so happened to be that this man was focused on physical education. So from Teshima's perspective…

Naruto would have made a great athlete. He was physically fit, far above the other students. Teshima could tell that Naruto worked out a lot, and could wipe the floor with anyone else at this school, but for whatever reason he pretended to be just above average in his class. He didn't understand, nor would he ever understand the enigma that would was called 'Uzumaki Naruto'.

He walked over to his attendance log and erased Naruto's absent check, and instead marked him as present. He could have wrote him off as late... _again_...but he had a soft spot for the boy. Something about him just didn't sit right with the teacher. No child should look like that...whatever it was that Teshima saw, he wasn't sure. But the way Naruto looked, the lack of expression, and the lack of emotion he displayed wasn't natural. His avoidance with the whole school population, minus a select few.

It all bothered him in a way that he knew he needed to do something to fix it. What it was that Teshima thought he needed to do? He had no idea. He could hear the whispers of the students, insulting and being down right _nasty_ to the boy. He tried to stop it, he really did, for the first year. Nothing helped.

Naruto would have been expelled long ago, if it weren't for the teacher. The constant tardiness was overwhelming. He was late at least twice to three times a week. Not to mention the fact that he had caught the boy smoking on a tobacco free school. Smoking was prohibited. That alone could have been a big issue with the school, but he covered for the blonde.

He wish he could do more for him, but sometimes fate had a cruel way of handling things.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Takagi, please give him your notes after class for everything he missed."

The girl Teshima mentioned scoffed slightly. Her pink twin tails bobbed as she crossed her arms bitterly. "But sensei, I don't even write notes. I just memorize anything you tell us that I don't already know."

Teshima felt his eyebrow twitch before his gaze turned towards the number two student in the class. "Himejima, please give Uzumaki your notes after class."

The girl closed her pink eyes and smiled pleasantly, "Hai sensei." her voice was as sweet as honey. Smooth and sugary.

Naruto's eyes drifted over to the two aforementioned students. Takagi Saya, a self proclaimed genius of Kuoh academy. She had every reason though to call herself one, as she had the highest grades in the school. Apparently she was in the national top ten as well. Not that he truly knew, only heard through rumors. She had sharp yellow eyes, very observant and a _very_ smart mind behind those eyes. Her hair was held up in two ponytails. She had a lovely body, still developing, but was small. He could tell that she wasn't properly trained, but would have been an amazing shinobi. Her mind might almost rival Shikamaru's. However her attitude of complete supremacy had turned him off to the idea of ever having a conversation with her.

His eyes landed on the other girl, after his mental assessment of Takagi Saya. A habit he had unintentionally developed to keep his mind busy and away from being bored. The other girl however...Himejima Akeno. Beautiful by every extent. One of two 'Great Ladies of Kuoh'. An embarrassing title, to be honest. Her body was great, but it had an underlining hint of muscle tone made for _combat_. There was something else about her that just sang to his instincts. An energy of some sort that definitely wasn't chakra. Of course she had kept this all to herself and never mentioned it once. Her black hair was long and in a single ponytail. Her all but fake smile and laugh almost irked him to no end.

His attention was brought back to his sensei, who was staring at him. "You hear that Uzumaki? Make sure you copy those notes, and please don't be late again."

Naruto lied his head down on the desk and looked out the window to his right. "Hai senseeeeiiiiii."

Teshima-sensei had said that every time. 'Please don't be late again'. He almost snorted. Like that would happen. He didn't understand why the man bothered to keep saying it, like eventually something will change and make him a perfect student. Yeah right.

Naruto felt his eyes drift shut. He was tired. He didn't get much sleep anymore. Not since coming to this world. Not since waking up, feeling as though his whole body was in a grinder, and left on the street for the flies, the rats, and the grime to tear away at his soul and body. Nothing could change the past.

With that Naruto drifted to sleep.

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He heard the noon bell ring, and his eyes opened. Oops. He actually didn't mean to fall asleep today. Ah, whatever. He lifted his head and wiped his mouth from the drool. The other students had already been packing up. Thankfully for him he didn't have to pack up anything because he didn't unpack. He merely stood up and grabbed his bag, before putting his earbuds in and walking out the room.

He could feel her before he heard her. Himejima-san's energy. She was no doubt going to try and give him her notes. He ignored her and continued walking. He kept his eyes down, focusing more on hips and feet than faces. But he could hear the squeals of delightment from fanboys and fangirls as one of the 'Great Ladies' was walking down the hallway.

What a joke.

Granted, he could also hear some harsh whispers thrown at him, but it wasn't so bad. Not since he's listened to his music in school. He could feel her presence getting closer. She was calling his name and telling him to wait up. Naruto barely smirked in amusement.

" _Oh nooooo, Himejima-saaaaan."_ Naruto thought to himself, _"I'm listening to music, I can't hear you. Or talk to you...ever. Now please go away."_

Naruto sped up his walk just a hair, hardly noticeable but enough to slowly get away from her. Good, now hopefully she wasn't annoyingly stubborn and she'll just let him walk away.

"Uzumaki-san!" He felt his wrist get caught by the black haired girl and tensed. His body naturally getting ready to fight from the contact. It was an instinct he struggled to control.

Akeno could say she was somewhat irked. She was suspicious if the blonde delinquent was intentionally ignoring her or if he actually didn't hear her. She absently heard the praises she received as she walked by the student body. She was elegant and graceful as always. Her smile ever present She's only had a passing comment with the blond before, but if she remembered correctly, he was incredibly rude. And it didn't last long.

What caught her attention was the awful and down right cruel things that some students were whispering at the blonde, or even saying to him as he walked by. She was positive that he would be able to hear those things at least. She frowned at the treatment of the delinquent.

She called out to him again, this time a little louder than her other times. She could say that she was just doing this because the teacher had asked her to give him the notes, or she could say that she's actually been looking for an excuse to talk to him for a while now. She's been curious about him since the opening ceremony, but the more she watched him, the more she truly wanted to talk to him. One on one, face to face.

Something was different about him. Actually. A _lot_ was different about him,but it wasn't what the world saw every day that she was talking about. The one other time she had talked to him had been last year, when he had accidentally bumped into him.

Their bags content spilled on the floor and he was incredibly irritated about it. Swearing softly under his breath, telling her to just go and leave him. She had resisted the urge to help anyway but she thought maybe it would have been better to listen to his request. She was surprised however when she saw a pack of cigarettes on the ground next to everything and she couldn't resist picking those up. She was very tempted just to combust them right then and there.

She picked them up and smiled at him as she held them out for him to take. Naruto had frozen momentarily before taking them from her without thanks and packing up the rest of his bag. When he stood up, she was surprised at how tall he actually was. Maybe around 5'10". For the briefest of moments, his eyes met hers and that's when she could tell. She knew something was off about the being called Uzumaki Naruto.

And that is exactly what she was looking into again. Those eyes of his were capable of bewitching you. But not because they were beautiful…

Because they were incredibly _sad._

At least to her. To someone who recognized that look once upon a time. She would see it in a mirror everyday for a period in her life. To most people, they might say his eyes were completely empty. Devoid of any emotion, carefully hidden away behind a blank visage. But to her, to someone who went through something like this where she didn't want people to ask questions… she thought they were sad. It was sad for someone to have such lifeless eyes. For such a beautiful color blue, to look so grey.

It was this time around that she had finally noticed faint lines on his cheeks. Three on each cheek. They almost looked like whisker marks. It gave him this wild look, almost exotic. Her eyes drifted to his eyebrows, looking completely natural. So he didn't dye his hair then… Then her eyes travelled to the shape of his face. It was angular, but somewhat boyish. Stray stubble rested on his chin, surprising her a little at the facial hair.

By no means, was Uzumaki Naruto an ugly person. But due to the unkempt style of his hair, and such an ugly, hallow facial expression… it was a major turn off. She could imagine him being incredibly handsome if his blue eyes were actually blue and if he smiled a little. Maybe get a haircut...and a tan.

"Can you let go?"

His dull, almost quiet voice was deep, but not THAT deep. It was quiet, commanding. And it broke her out of her thoughts. At some point, he had taken out one of his earphones and was holding onto it.

She quickly plastered a smile on her face and let go of his wrist. "Ara, I apologize Uzumaki-san. I simply was intrigued by such unique eyes."

Akeno watched as he visibly relaxed after she let him go. Was he afraid of people touching him? Why did that put him on such edge? Naruto didn't say anything for a moment before speaking up.

"Were you trying to give me the notes?"

Akeno blinked, not understanding what he was talking about. Then she remembered her whole purpose to find him. She almost blushed in embarrassment at forgetting. She made a mental note on how he immediately changed subjects.

"Ah, yes, I was." She reached around in her bag to grab her note book.

He held up one hand, waving off her effort. "Save it, I won't copy them anyway."

She smiled at him, "Ara, but Uzumaki-san, you should worry more about your studies. I've heard some…. _Interesting…._ Things about you. And quite frankly, you don't look like half the idiot as some of the students like to call you."

She smiled sweetly...to sweetly. And she had made sure that she said that a louder voice so that the students around her heard it clearly. Almost everyone knows who she was. That being said, some people are just apathetic towards school titles such as 'The Great Ladies of Kuoh'. But she could almost guarantee that everyone knew who Uzumaki Naruto was. The great delinquent of Kuoh Academy. To even speak to the blonde for personal reasons was social suicide. Not that she cared.

What was troublesome about him, was the aura he gave off. While being completely diminutive, if you look much closer and focus...she could say that it was intimidating. Naruto was, without a doubt, intimidating to Himejima Akeno. The way he carries himself, he studies his environment, and he seems completely away of everything that happens around him.

Which is why it surprises her that he handles so much ridicule from the school so well. He's a pro it seems at ignoring what people thought of him. And it bothered her. To be calloused so well to such harsh words at this young of an age. She smiled at him this time again, a little more gentler.

"I would like to get to know you as well, Uzumaki-san."

This time, Naruto's blank expression changed. Very slightly, but she was able to see it clearly. His eyes widened ever so slightly and his lips parted the tiniest bit. She could read it so well, it might as well been a book.

Naruto was surprised.

He was surprised that she had even struck up a friendly conversation. Surprised that she had even known about his existence, and surprised at the words that came out of her mouth. But what surprised him the most was honest expression on her face, to match her honest words. It had to have been the first honest thing he's ever seen from her.

He blinked once and school his expression back into a blank stare before he tore his eyes off of her. "Why would anyone want to do that, Himejima-san?"

She smiled as she tilted her head, cutely. "Is there a problem with that?"

He nodded curtly before walking off, hopefully to get away from all these people. It's beginning to take a toll on him.

Akeno was blinked when he just suddenly started to walk away from her. "W-wait, Uzumaki-san!" She caught up to him quickly, staying by his side as she looked up to him. "Did my answer upset you?"

Naruto nodded again, trying to close himself off from her. "I don't want anyone to know me. Ever."

Akeno frowned, his voice was curt. Clearly she was upsetting him. "Don't you sound evasive? Quite surprising for someone so looks so lonely."

This time, She didn't anticipate Naruto completely halting his movement. Naruto's head was immediately filled with flashes of images. Flickers of faces. Faces of his friends and family. He saw them everywhere. Was he lonely? Of course. But his loneliness was his sanity. His only true connection to those that he had left behind.

How can he be allowed to live while they're all dead?

Why is he allowed to have more friends? More family? When he was the one to kill them? The answer is simple. He isn't. If god wasn't punishing him, then he sure as hell will. He's lonely, yes. But that isn't a problem. It's his salvation.

Naruto stood to his full height, ignoring Akeno's surprise. He fully turned and faced her, doing his best not to glare at her, he merely offered her a small smile. It wasn't a kind one.

"Goodbye Himejima-san."

With that he, left her there. He didn't look back, nor did he walk slowly. No. He had to leave. It doesn't matter anymore. He doesn't want friends. Everyone leaves. Everyone dies. So why go through with that pain again?

He stubbornly refused to acknowledge his tightly clenched fist and a desire to turn back around and continue to talk to Himejima-san. The amount of willpower it actually took for him to walk away from Akeno was impressive. Not that he actually understood. He just wanted to get out of that situation. His chest was tightening and his eyes pricked. No. He won't.

He wouldn't let himself.

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Naruto ran a hand through his shaggy hair, sighing. Guess it was true, he's not very good at a standing conversation yet. So many feelings that he just hasn't dealt with yet. He frowned in frustration. He had handled that poorly, and he knew it. He didn't need to take out any frustration on Himejima-san. He was just...stupid. He sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets and making his way outside.

He stopped and looked around at various students laughing, smiling, and overall enjoying a good time in highschool. A small group of boys were playing soccer on the track field, laughing. They were just kicking the ball back and forth between each other. Naruto closed his eyes briefly when he felt the breeze warmly hit his face. Ah what a nice day. He could feel the wind blow through his pale locks, and it felt like nature was combing through old memories.

For a brief moment, he envisioned Konoha before him. In all its mighty glory. No giant hole in the ground, just buildings, and an unscarred Hokage monument. He felt a tug on his lips, hardly resisting a nostalgic smile. His eyelids fluttered open and he fought back against the wave of disappointment. He was standing next to a tree, overlooking the students in the quad. It was on a hill, somewhat close to the school building. Behind him were the tennis courts.

It wasn't Konoha and it wasn't home.

His smile slowly fell as he watched the students play. Ah, what a shitty feeling. This...emptiness...he held inside. He was missing something, but he knew what it was. He already had it, once upon a time. A home, a family, friends, and a future he could look forward too. A future the gave him the drive to make it as perfect as possible. From nothing to something, that's what he wanted. He wanted a peaceful life, in a peaceful world where his children could play soccer like the children in front of him. That was what he was missing in his life. Alas it couldn't have been, after all it was his fault it was all gone. If only he had been stronger. If only he could have seen it.

He had been too weak, and it had cost him dearly.

He'd even argue that he was just better off dead. There was no way that his friends would have ever forgiven him if he just gave up, but he could at least concur that the way he was living wasn't much better than being six feet under.

Naruto sat down, and took out his drawing pad, some drawing utensils and his sandwich. He took a bite out of it and then opened to a fresh page, looking down at the boys playing soccer. He will use them for inspiration. He could picture a younger version of himself playing with Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi. Ah what a good time that was.

Before he drew a line he paused. _"I wonder if any of them would approve of the way I'm coping right now."_ He pondered to himself.

His hand moved on its own. After he had come here, he had made several clones and have them learn everything there was to learn about drawing and painting. Decades of art techniques mastered in about a year. He did whatever he could to preserve his memories. There was never a time in his life where he'd ever want to wake up and not be able to picture his home perfectly in his life.

He wanted to have a physical copy of it, so he'd never forget. It was something that he was never interested in before. He had to admit, he wasn't an artsy person. But Naruto refused to forget. He wanted to remember their faces, and see them. After all, it was all he had left of them. He had his old clothes, completely tattered and ruined. He had his scrolls, which he could make more here, thankfully, and his ninja tools such as shuriken, and kunai. He didn't have any pictures of his home, and it didn't even exist according to this world. It wasn't anything, it was just a fleeting thought in the mind of a highschool student.

His most prized possessions were these drawings, and his hitai-ate. His headband that he had received from Iruka-sensei. The first person to ever acknowledge him as Uzumaki Naruto, and not the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

He couldn't blame Kurama any longer, but talking to that old furball honestly was just too much for him right now. Maybe one day…

His hands were speeding through this drawing, getting done with the outline and now going into details when he heard someone start to approach him. He didn't recognize the presence at all, but she was loud.

He ignored this person, until he heard them sit next to him. Nothing was spoke between them and Naruto proceeded to ignore this person. He could hear them shuffle around, pulling out a notebook and writing something down next to him. He was somewhat curious, but he resisted his urges.

Until he felt them tap him on the shoulder.

He looked up from his drawing and looked over a the newcomer. It was a girl, she was pretty. Her hair went down to the middle of her back, and was slightly wavy. It was light-pink/brownish color. An interesting blend indeed. Her eyes were soft and dark brown. She was petite, but overall a very pretty girl. She didn't have a large bust, but Naruto would say that it would have been a normal size for highschool girls. Except the ones at this high school, where it seemed having an unusually large bust size was the norm.

She was biting her lip cutely, and nervously when she held out her notepad. Naruto's eyes drifted to the page, reading what she had wrote down for him.

 _Nice to meet you. My name is Nishimiya Shouko. I sit here everyday for lunch, so I'm sorry for intruding._

Naruto stared at the paper then looked up at her. Why was she writing to him? Was she mute? Or didn't she have some reason why she couldn't talk? Naruto looked down at the paper again and continued to read what she had wrote down for him.

 _I hope we can be friends._

Naruto almost smiled at her earnesty. It reminded him of himself. When he was younger, at least. He watched her put the book down and she gave a little bow towards him as she sat down on the other side of the tree.

Naruto nodded his head back at her, and this time he did smile at her. Looking back at the field he picked up his pencil and fiddled with it. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I hope we can get along."

Naruto was expecting some sort of reaction from her, maybe one of disgust or awkwardness. He wasn't expecting another tap on his shoulder though. He looked over at the girl again, who looked somewhat confused, and embarrassed. This time she handed him her notebook. Naruto looked down at the paper.

 _I'm sorry, can you repeat that? I can't hear, but I can read lips._

That had Naruto almost freeze. This wasn't something he was expecting, in fact, he wasn't even sure if he's heard of anyone in the Elemental Nations that wasn't able to hear… but he could imagine how hard their life might have been if they couldn't. He didn't look at her when he starting to write with his own pencil.

 _I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I hope we can get along._

He handed the notebook back before gauging her reactions. She read the paper and blinked in surprise. Naruto smiled a little bit, of course she's heard of him. He felt like there wasn't a soul who hasn't heard of him in this school. Not that he cared or anything…

She started to scribble on the paper before showing it to him. Naruto read the lines.

 _Uzumaki Naruto as in the delinquent of Kuoh?_

Naruto sweatdropped awkwardly before laughing lightly. He nodded his head yes at her. Shouko's mouth formed an 'o' before she started to write again.

 _I thought you'd be scarier looking._

Naruto stared at the paper, a strange feeling of relief lifted from his shoulders. He wasn't aware that it was even there until someone had talked to him like a normal human being for once in the three years since he's been in this world. He actually gave her a small, but genuine smile before holding his hand out for the notebook. She handed it over.

 _I could be scary if you want._

He showed it to her, and she bit her lip nervously before shaking her head no quickly. Naruto gently smiled before writing down something again. He felt her tap his shoulder and he looked at her. She was shaking her head no, but acting out as if she were writing. Then she pointed to her lips. Naruto frowned.

"You want me to talk to you like this?" Naruto asked, facing her directly. She smiled and nodded. Naruto frowned before he continued to write on her notebook.

 _Why can't you hear anything?_

He handed it back to her. Shouko stared silently at the question before slowly she started to write down a reply. She looked at Naruto with a small sad smile. Her big brown eyes were soft, but he could tell that being deaf was something that she hated, not that he could do anything about it.

 _I was born with drastic hearing loss, and I am now considered clinically deaf._

Naruto frowned as he read that. Deaf, huh? He's never heard of such a thing, not until now at least. Drastic hearing loss...that must be such a burden. Naruto knows all about burdens. It was something she couldn't even have controlled either, much like his own situation. He knew, from his own experience, that she wouldn't want to have been pitied. Even thinking about that, Naruto knew he would have hated it if he were in her shoes.

So instead he merely smiled softly at her, "I'm sorry to hear that." He said to her, making sure to speak clearly.

It was at that point in time where Naruto looked back at the boys playing soccer. They were now taking a break and actually eating their lunches. Naruto took a few more bites out of his own sandwich before he continued to draw.

It was nice, the comfortable silence between the two of them. He could probably guess that it wasn't uncomfortable because of the barrier that was between them. Which of course he was referring to their only ability to communicate was through a notebook.

But he didn't dislike the company. They didn't need to talk, and it was enough for him.

He was almost done with the picture when he felt another tap on his shoulder. He peaked over at the girl, Nishimiya-san, with a raised eyebrow. His eyes flicked down to the notebook she was holding in her hand and she shyly was smiling.

 _That picture is very pretty. You are good._

Naruto smiled softly before holding out his own hand.

 _Their names were Konohamaru._ He pointed to one boy, who had a long scarf around his neck while holding a funny pose. _Udon_. He pointed to another boy, who looked sickly and had glasses. This boy was smiling gently while holding a cardboard box over his head. _And Moegi._ This time her pointed to the sole girl in the picture, who looked very upset about something, pouting. Although she had a small blush of embarrassment on her face.

And finally he had drawn himself next to Konohamaru, with his hand on his stomach, pointing and laughing at the three of them. Naruto smiled gently at the scene.

 _And are you the last one?_

Naruto read the page and nodded slightly, pointing at himself. He looked at Nishimiya. "Yeah, the last one is me. I was much younger then."

 _You look much happier._

Naruto stared at the sentence before smiling. It was a very small, and very sad smile. His eyes drenched in sorrow. He looked down at his picture before writing in the bottom corner.

 _I was much happier then._

Naruto ripped the paper out of his sketchbook before handing it to her. She looked surprised that he had done that. She stared at what he had wrote down before looking back up. She held out the sketch for him to take back but Naruto just shook his head, waving her off, as if to say to her that she could keep it. Shouko put the sketch in her bag, before she started writing again.

 _What happened to them?_

Naruto wasn't sure how to respond to a question like that. How could he tell her that some of his friends, three of them, had passed away along with almost every person precious to him. He couldn't just come out and say something like that. But what else could he even say? He could make a joke, see if she laughs. Or maybe he could half lie?

Naruto asked for the notebook again before writing something down for her to read.

 _I moved very far away._

She frowned and bowed her head, doing some weird hand motions before writing down on the notebook.

 _I'm sorry to hear that_.

Naruto smiled at her and waved off her condolences. He faintly heard the bell ring for the end of lunch. He sighed to himself. He packed away his stuff in his bag before getting up and waving at the girl, Nishimiya-san.

He went to walk by her again, but he felt a hand grab his sleeve. He turned back to her with a raised eyebrow, confused. Shouko looked nervous about something, before she quickly scribbled something down with her nice handwriting.

 _Can we meet here for lunch again tomorrow?_

Naruto read the line once more, before slowly smiling. It was soft, and he felt like it was an actual genuine smile of his. He knelt down in front of the girl, and put a hand on her head. She blushed lightly, but held his gaze with one of her own. Naruto blinked for a second and in her place was bright pink hair and green eyes. Naruto blinked again and the face of his old teammate and love were replaced with Nishimiya's . He felt his smile falter slightly before ignoring it.

"Yeah, I'll be back for lunch tomorrow." He said softly, but clearly, allowing her to read his lips. "I hope to see you again, Nishimiya-san."

With that he stood up, shouldered his backpack and trudged off to his classroom. He felt much better than he has in a long time. Maybe letting a few people into his life as acquaintances or even friends wouldn't be so bad of an idea.

Nishimiya-san wasn't a bad girl. It looked like she had experienced a tough life so far, and he found it very hard to not relate to such a thing. He had a soft spot for special cases. He missed the stare he was receiving from the girl he just left behind, and instead continued forward. He made his way through the crowd, lowering his eyes and putting his earbuds back in.

Maybe he should go talk to Akeno-san again. He'll apologize and accept her notes so she doesn't get in trouble with the Teshima-sensei.

He wandered to the classroom, getting there a little early. He debated on waiting for her out in the hallway, but decided to go into the classroom before her. He wasn't expecting to see Akeno sitting at her desk already, and nobody to be in the classroom yet.

Naruto decided to take this opportunity to talk to the raven haired beauty.

He walked up to Akeno and cleared his throat awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with her. Akeno turned around and was slightly surprised to see a shameful and somewhat embarrassed Naruto standing before her.

He bowed slightly, "I'm sorry my rudeness earlier Himejima-san. I hope you can forgive me."

Akeno gaped openly at the tall boy. She was surprised, to say the least. She was convinced that today was her fault, she had somehow pushed the blonde in front of her to a point where we wasn't able to emotionally register her intentions and he had responded negatively. It still could be the case with him. But if he were to come back merely an hour later and apologize for his behavior… then he had been aware of his feelings the whole time and merely decided to act the way he had acted.

So in time span of which she didn't see him… he had changed his mind and apologized for his calculated behavior. It was interesting, to see such a reaction from someone like him. But the strange part was...she couldn't wipe her smile off her face even if she wanted too.

"It's alright, Uzumaki-san. I hope I didn't upset you earlier with any comments I had made."

Naruto looked up at her and blinked at her genuinely happy smile. He almost blushed. She was quite stunning when she wasn't faking it. He faintly heard the door behind him open but he couldn't bring himself to look behind.

He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck, a habit that even after all this time, he wasn't able to get rid of. "Ah no, I just wasn't in the best of moods and I realized that I was being a dick."

He heard her giggle lightly before tilting her head, "Ara ara, are you a moody boy?"

Naruto frowned and glared slightly, "I wouldn't say that…"

She giggled into her hand again, closing her eyes. Naruto studied her. Her hand looked soft, gentle. Akeno opened her eyes and composed herself as the first few students started to walk into the room.

"I am able to give you the notes after school, if that works for you?"

Ah. Yeah, the notes. He had forgotten about them, to be honest. He had felt guilty about the way he had acted, but that doesn't mean he still wants to take the damn notes. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. Ah well, he might as well say yes.

"I guess so. I'll see you at the entrance after school." He waved over his shoulder as he walked back to his desk, hoping to avoid the other students. He heard the ravenette giggle behind him again, almost like she was teasing him. He scowled slightly.

He paused when he almost ran into the class rep, Takagi Saya, who was almost glaring at him. A hand was on her hip and she was holding out a notebook for him. Naruto blinked owlishly at the girl in front of him. What was happening?

Saya sighed and thrusted the notebook into his chest, crossing her arms and looking a different direction. "I had written these notes over lunch. The notes are everything that sensei had gone over that will most likely be on any tests. Seeing as you aren't the smartest, I had made them simple and easy enough for you to understand."

Naruto grabbed onto the notebook staring at the cover. Why did she do this?

"Because, _idiot_ , I am the class rep, and I should take responsibilities such as this into my power. Himejima-san shouldn't be bothered with giving out her notes," Saya said, indignantly.

Oops. Had he said that outloud? He didn't think he did. He peaked a look over his shoulder at Akeno-san, who for the most part was doing a good job of hiding her frown on her face. Naruto looked back at Saya and nodded his head, smiling gently.

"Thank you iinchou. I'll write them down right now." He said, walking by her and sitting at his desk in the back.

Saya watched him walk by and she scowled, before she looked over at Akeno herself. No words passed between the two of the. The pinkette merely gave her a heated look before taking her seat in the middle of the class, getting her materials out and getting ready.

Akeno herself followed the example. She had known for a while now that the Takagi girl wasn't a big fan of hers, either it was from jealousy or the genius girl actually had felt somewhat threatened by her, Akeno wasn't sure which it was. But she could tell that it was something far deeper than petty jealousy.

She did find it rather odd that she had decided to help Naruto after what she had said in class though. It was almost like this sole action had been an attempt at putting a barrier between Akeno and Naruto again. She couldn't be sure what her intentions were for that reason, or if she was even correct in her assumption…

Teshima walked into his classroom and saw that everyone was sitting and already set to go. He could feel some tension in the air, but he wasn't sure exactly what had happened. It was a little awkward, though. He almost sweatdropped at the intense gaze the students were giving him right now, clearly using him as a personal distraction of sorts.

His gaze fell into the back of the room and noticed that Naruto was there, for once, in his seat and on time. He blinked, and even took note of the fact that the blonde's head was down and he was writing something in a notebook. Maybe it was finally some notes? He grinned in excitement, finally hoping Naruto would take his life a little more seriously than he had before. Maybe with a good lesson to start things off right now, he'd be able to boost the boys thirst for knowledge even more.

"Alright class! Welcome back, I hope you had a nice lunch break! Today I promised to go over antiderivative and indefinite integrals that some of you might have had issues with learning yesterday…" His eyes drifted to the back where Naruto was sitting, writing things down. The blond never looked up at him once. "If you have any questions please feel free to ask, or even write them down and come to me after class."

He picked up a marker for his white board and started to write a few things down. "Now lets begin."

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Naruto groaned as the bell for the end of the day signaled their release from this legal torture chamber. He had pre packed his bag and rushed out of the room, intent on leaving for the day. He was exhausted and had enough encounters for one day.

Too many people, too little time between them.

He quickly changed out of his school shoes and put on his sneakers, quickly leaving the door before the majority of the student body came around to the entrance. As he opened the door, he felt an impact of sorts from someone bumping into him. It knocked him back a step, since he was unprepared for it.

He glared down at the person who bumped into him, hearing the boy groan from his spot on the ground. Naruto studied him quickly. The boy had brown hair, with somewhat of a mullet going on. He was average build and looked pretty average for a height.

"What the hell?" The boy grunted from the ground, looking up at who he ran into. His brown eyes widened when he saw Naruto's face in front of him. The boy instantly squealed and suddenly skidded to Naruto's feet in a seiza position, his head basically touching the ground. "I'M SORRY UZUMAKI-SAN, I DIDN'T SEE WHERE I WAS GOING, I HOPE YOU CAN FORGIVE ME OR AT LEAST DON'T BEAT ME UP!"

Naruto didn't know what to say exactly and could feel his lip twitch awkwardly. Before he could answer, his attention was drawn to a group of girls sliding around the corner, all of them wearing towels or swimsuits. Naruto blanched. What the hell was happening?

The group of girls seemed to have spotted something because when they turned the corner, they had all started yelling and pointing at either him or this other guy. With full sprinting power, they all came running over to the two of them.

The brunette on the ground squeaked again and stood up, sweating profusely. Naruto felt a shiver of something he hasn't felt for a while. Fear. He genuinely felt a little fear at the stampede of angry females sprinting at them. His eyebrow twitched before looking down at the guy who was utterly terrified. Every man for himself? Or…?

He nodded to himself, no. He will not abandon a comrade in need. He grabbed ahold of the boys wrist before jerking him onto his back, and crouched low.

"Ah! What're you doing, Uzumaki-san!?" The brunette yelled in panic.

Naruto looked at him quickly. "We're leaving."

Was all he said before he took off in a sprint. He tried to keep it as 'humanly fast' as possible. Obviously if he were to pull out shinobi speeds here, a lot of people might ask him in the future about how the fuck he did that. Naruto wasn't looking for none of that business.

But to carry this other guy on his back, and run faster than the horde of angry females, somewhat reminded him of that time he carried a princess and out sprinted a train. Yeah that was a good time.

He dashed around the school, for a while, trying to shake the surprisingly persistent group. But after a while, they finally all had stopped due to exhaustion and went back to whatever it was that they were doing.

Naruto was behind the tennis courts, near a forest and if he was correct, near the old school building as well. He was panting and trying to catch his breath. Oh boy, it's been awhile since he's pushed himself for that long. These past three years he really hasn't been doing any sort of training, just kind of brooding.

He wiped the sweat off his face and looked at the ground at the boy who created all of this mess for him. He glared at brunette.

"What the hell was that about?"

The boy looked up at him and was instantly on his feet again, bowing much too quickly to be healthy for a back. "Thank you Uzumaki-senpai! You are the best! You saved me from such a beating!"

Naruto sighed, exasperated. He rubbed his neck. "It's fine. I can't believe they even started chasing me."

The boy looked sheepish, "Well given your reputation Uzumaki-senpai, I truly thought they'd have stopped chasing me after they saw you."

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his shaggy hair. "It's whatever… but who are you again?"

"Ah!" The boy shot up straight. "I had forgotten about that! My name is Hyoudou Issei, Uzumaki-senpai. I'm sorry for all the trouble!"

Naruto stared at Issei. A piece of the puzzle came together in his mind as he finally registered what had happened. "Hyoudou-san? You're one of those perverts, aren't you?"

Issei looked surprised, "You know of me?"

Naruto sweatdropped. The boy didn't even deny being a pervert. But from what he had heard about the Perverted Trio, is that their pervertedness might even rival his late sensei's...They might be on par with the Super Pervert. Naruto shivered at the thought.

"I've heard of you and your friends." He said, "Now it all makes sense why those girls were chasing you...swim club?"

Issei nodded, vehemently. "They just started warmups in those delicious school swimsuits." He giggled, nostrils getting big and a blush appeared on his face as he clearly pictured them in his mind.

Naruto chuckled softly at the look. It was one he was very familiar with. He's seen that look too many times in his life time to be affected by it now. He shook his head and grabbed his bag from the ground, starting to brush off the dirt.

"You know, Uzumaki-senpai…" Issei had started, gaining Naruto's attention. He merely raised a pale eyebrow. Issei scratched his cheek, looking sheepish. "I've heard a lot of bad things about you, but you aren't anything like what the rumors say about you."

Naruto smirked at him, "Who knows? I don't pay attention to that kind of stuff."

Issei grinned at him. "Well, I'm sorry that you get so much shit then. I hope one day they'll see how cool you really are" The brunette gave him a thumbs up. "You really saved me there today."

Naruto grunted. "Like I said, it's no problem. But I doubt the school will be able to see me any different any time soon. I'm already in my third year anyway."

Issei frowned, "Well maybe if you act this way with everyone, then they'll see -"

"It won't be as easy as that, Hyoudou-san." Naruto interrupted him. "People get set into their ideas, and it's hard to get them to acknowledge their wrong doing. Especially if some of them have been doing it for multiple years."

"But-"

"No buts." Issei didn't look convinced by Naruto. So the blonde continued. "That's just how it works. Especially in this world. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and accept your loss."

Naruto started to trudge off, before Issei could say anything else. He through a hand over his shoulder, waving to the boy. "Take care, Hyoudou-san."

He heard Issei say his goodbye to his retreating form, and put his hands in his pockets. Ahh, what a long day. He was tired. He suddenly really wanted a cigarette from such a day. Usually he can wait until he gets home but today was a long day, and it had worn him out.

He pulled out the packet before pulling a stick out and putting it between his lips, already smelling the tobacco. He didn't bother with a lighter and used a very low level Katon jutsu to light a small flame above his thumb. He lit the end of the cigarette and took a deep puff in. He could feel the hot, dry smoke go into his lungs. The burning sensation gave him such an odd sense of peace. It was relieving.

He blew out the smoke before he took an opportunity to study his surroundings. He actually just noticed the building he was standing in front of now. Surrounding the building were a bunch of trees, basically a forest. There were some steps going up into the front door of the building, which had a giant clock on the very top of it.

It looked relatively old, but had a new metal roof on top. And for the first time since he's been there. He saw something that made him stop taking a second drag right then and there. The cigarette paused right on his lips and his eyes stayed glued to the open window. The open window where a person was standing at, gazing strongly at him as well.

He felt like a deer caught in the headlights.

He'd never smoked at school before, but after Teshima-sensei had caught the smell of cigarettes on him once, he had warned Naruto that any attempts to smoke on school grounds would be grounds for immediate expulsion.

Apparently they take that kind of stuff very seriously.

But right now his eyes couldn't tear themselves off this person. She just stood there with a very passive look on her face, staring straight at him. Even at this distance, he could almost feel an aura of disappointment from her being.

She had stunning blue-green eyes, with long, wild, crimson hair. It was beautiful red hair. Her bust was big, almost as big as Akeno's. Her angular face, and high cheekbones gave her a sophisticated look. Her dainty hand was holding onto the windowsill, and she held herself like she was royalty. Sophisticated and regal. It was impressive.

Naruto briefly registered that he had pulled out the cigarette, lit it with a Katon jutsu, and took a drag, all in front of her. What worried him most, honestly was the Katon jutsu.

His elevator didn't go all the way to the top floor, but Naruto wasn't dumb enough to not know who this person was. One of two 'Great Ladies' of Kuoh Academy. A beautiful girl, in and out and upside down. It was this knowledge that had made him a little nervous about what had transpired right at this moment. He knew that this particular person was very close to the student council, and he knew that this particular person also had a lot of power in Kuoh Academy, and Kuoh Town.

Oh yes, he knew exactly who this person was...

Rias Gremory.

0000000

 **First chapter complete. I really hope you all enjoy this chapter! And a few things I just wanted to clarify and update since I haven't been an active writer for several months.**

 **First of all, if you come from one of my other books, I appreciate your patience. This is a hobby for me, and sometimes when life hits, it hits you hard. I was very busy for several months, and wasn't able to take the time to sit down and enjoy one of my hobbies. I had prioritized playing video games over this as well. And once again I apologize.**

 **Second of all, if you are wondering if either of my stories, 'Deceiving the Apocalypse' and 'Hachiman the Hero' has been abandoned, then you are incorrect. I am currently in the process of writing chapters for both stories. The only issue is that this story has been in my mind for AGES and I haven't been able to write it like I would have wanted, so I just took the dive in and went for it.**

 **Once again, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and I hope to see you all soon for another chapter! PM, message, or Review if you have any questions about anything! I will do my best to answer them without spoiling the plot. Don't ask about that, and just sit back and enjoy the ride :)**

 **Ja Ne**


	2. Chapter 2

Hello everyone! New chapter here! I'm going to try updating on a weekly to bi-weekly basis. I know the holidays are coming up so it may be difficult to even update this month but I will try the best I can.

I want to thank you all for taking the time to read and review my first chapter, it means a lot. Once again if you have any questions please feel free to review or pm me them.

I just want to say. Naruto will NOT be in any peerage. He will strictly remain human. I hope you all are okay with that, because that's what's happening.

I appreciate all of you telling me that I have some writing issues and I've noticed them and might re-upload the first chapter with just grammar fixes, no plot changes at all.

Another thing, I wanted to write a different Naruto then maybe we've seen so far. While there might be periods of a 'depressed' Naruto, it will only be brief. Naruto's exact personality will be somewhat...sporadic. There are some things that I've wanted to add into his character that I very rarely see mentioned into fanfiction. A lot of people might have issues with it, or might think that it comes off as 'random' but I hope you understand that there is a reason why I am portraying him the way I am.

I forgot to mention that fact that this story will be AU! Canon Naruto is different, and the world of Highschool DxD will be different as well. I had forgotten to mention this, so I hope you guys don't mind…

Also for pairings? I'm not 100% sure what I will do for pairings. I'm focusing much more on friendship in this story than I am romance. Although I might add some romance later, and I might even NOT add romance. If I were happen to build a strong enough relationship between characters then I will add a pairing to it. Possible Harem. I have an idea of who would be in the harem If I were to add it as well.

This story is a crossover Naruto/Highschool DxD/Highschool of the Dead. One character took from Koe no Katachi. Fantastic movie if you've never seen it. I recommend.

Disclaimer. I don't own any anime of the sorts, not Naruto, HDxD, or HoTD, or Koe no Katachi. Nor do I own any references I make towards other anime or products.

Without further ado… please enjoy…

" **Speaking."** Kyuubi speaking

" _ **Thinking."**_ Kyuubi thinking

"Speaking." Person speaking

" _Thinking."_ Person thinking

 _Writing_

 **~~o0O0o~~**

 **When It Rains It Pours**

CHAPTER 2

 **~~o0O0o~~**

 _The wind was cool but the air was warm. The bright half crescent moon in the sky shone brightly, illuminating the late working down below. Bright blonde hair waved lazily in the breeze, a peaceful smile on his face. Sounds of cheering, laughter, and music wafted all around him._

 _He watched as his sensei created building after building using his chakra and wood manipulation. He chuckled softly when the brown haired jonin collapsed to his back. His eyes wandered over shinobi working with civilians to recreate their home. It was such an exhausting day. Pein had destroyed all of their home, and had killed thousands. Thankfully he had sacrificed himself to resurrect the dead._

 _Too bad Ero-sennin wasn't one of them._

 _The blonde heard someone approach him from behind while he sat on the head of the fourth Hokage. His ocean blue eyes stared down at the village below, knowing exactly who it was that walked up. After all, he has spent more time with her than anyone else in his whole life. He listened as she sat down next to him._

" _They're voting for the next Hokage, tomorrow it seems." Was the first thing she had said._

 _He nodded. "You think they'll ask me?" He grinned fighting back a laugh._

 _She giggled at him, pushing him lightly with her hand. "No way they'd ask a genin to be Hokage." Her smile faltered. "Besides, it's only temporary, until Tsunade-sama wakes up."_

 _He suddenly felt guilty. If he had been quicker, maybe it wouldn't have had to come to that. He lowered his head, "I'm sorry, if I had only been quicker, Obaa-chan wouldn't-"_

" _Dont." She said firmly next to him. She shook her head repeatedly. "Don't say it. If you wouldn't have been there...I…"_

 _The words died in the depths of his heart, and his guilt faded away. He knew it was pointless. There wasn't much more he could have done. But, some part of him still felt that way…_

 _She took a shaky breath before forcing a smile, looking down below. "I'm surprised at how well they all are doing. It must be so scary for those children."_

 _The blonde didn't say anything. He knew that she was just talking to change the topic. He wasn't here when it happened. He wasn't the one with the villagers. He wasn't around them. But she had been. She'd seen their fears for herself._

 _He wondered briefly if it was like this on the night the Kyuubi had attacked._

 _He felt himself smile, somewhat bittersweet, memories flooding through his mind suddenly. "You know, I remember coming here a lot as a kid. Sitting on his head. I felt tall, and I liked the view it gave me of the village. I could see the birds and just listen to how happy everyone sounded."_

 _He didn't hate the silence, but for whatever reason it may be right now...he didn't want there to be any silence between the two of them. He felt a need to explain himself somehow. It was strange._

 _He chuckled, "I always liked the fourth the most. I wanted to be just like him when I become Hokage. Who would have thought that we'd have more in common than just our hair color, 'tebayo."_

 _His vision blurred a tiny bit when a watery film covered his view. He felt her put her hand over his own, squeezing softly. He blinked away the prick behind his eyes and looked over at her._

 _Her green eyes caught the moonlight like a net. They shone with hidden emotions that he wouldn't be able to guess even in a million years. He let out a dry, humorless laugh._

" _I thought it woulda felt better too, ya know? With Ero-sennin gone, and now Nagato is gone but I don't feel any better at all. And now Obaa-chan is in a coma...There are so many things that I want to talk to her about…"_

 _His eyes drifted down, staring at her shoulder. Her red top, dirty and stained with hard work and a hard day. Suddenly he realized what he said and lifted his arms up, shaking them in front of her._

" _But I shouldn't be the one saying this now. You've had such a hard day as well!" She giggled at him and he grinned sheepishly. Scratching the back of his neck. "Sorry."_

 _She waved him off, "Don't worry about it. It's been rough day. For everyone."_

 _He merely watched her as she tore her eyes off of him and looked down at the people. Children were sleeping in their parents arms. People sang so they wouldn't cry. Despite mostly coming out of this whole mess alive, their home was still destroyed._

 _Now they had to start over._

" _I'm not sure what would have happened if you had not been here."_

 _She said this quietly, intimately. His eyes were drawn towards her, glued towards her visage. She was always beautiful to him, no matter what. Her green eyes were tired now, but it just showed her raw self to him and it was just so charming._

 _She smiled at him, it seemed so easy yet it looked so strained. "It's been a long time, and we've come a long way. Especially you, Naruto. My body hurts, but somehow I just keep moving. I feel…" she paused and bit her lip, hesitating. "I feel like watching you, and being near you gives me so much strength."_

 _She turned towards him, tears in here eyes and a smile on her face. Even now, he could tell himself that she looked beautiful. Her pink hair flowed around her as a particularly strong breeze swept the two of them up in their own little atmosphere._

" _Without you, we wouldn't be here right now. I can only do so much to thank the village hero, Naruto."_

 _He stared at her, unable to find the words that he feels needs to be said. She continued. "Thank you. And I'm glad that I've met you."_

 _She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his neck, and burying her face into the crook of his neck. He pretended to ignore her sobs, and the wetness on his collar. He ignored how warm she was and how his arms had unconsciously wrapped themselves around her, bringing her closer to him. He merely leaned his head into her hair and whispered into the wind, unsure whether or not she had even heard him._

" _I look forward to the future with you too... Sakura-chan."_

 **~~o0O0o~~**

His eyes fluttered open. He blankly stared at his white ceiling before an unconscious tug of his lips made him decide to finally sit up. His feet had hit the cold wooden floors of his room, and he looked ahead of him at his wall. Littering his wall were drawings Naruto himself had drawn. They were all taped to the wall. Drawings of the Rookie 9, of Gaara and his siblings, Of the Third Hokage, of Ero-sennin, of Oba-chan, of Kakashi-sensei and Iruka sensei, and of Konoha.

He pulled out a cigarette, lighting it where he sat and took a drag. He sat there and studied each and every picture, installing them into his memory. It was his morning ritual. Something that he had gotten into a habit doing, and if he didn't do it, it had thrown him off the whole day.

He blinked and stretched before putting out his cigarette. He sniffed his armpits before looking at the time. He had over two hours yet before he would have to leave for school. He frowned. How troublesome. Now what was he supposed to do before school? Hmmm, he could always skip? Oh wait, he skipped yesterday. Skipping two days in a row would be bad.

He struck a thinking pose. He might as well just get ready for school and leave early.

A little bit later, Naruto was casually walking to school, an hour earlier than he usually leaves. So he's actually walking to school on time for once. It was odd, seeing a few students here and there walking and talking to school. He put his earbuds in and kept his eyes on the ground in front of him, opting to keep a slow pace.

His eyes flickered up again when he heard some people shouting in head of him. Naruto raised his eyes slightly when he saw Issei walking next to a girl, while two others in front of them were clearly surprised.

He kept his slow pace but listened in on what they were saying. Issei spoke up first. "Guys, this is Amano Yuuma-chan, my girlfriend."

Naruto stopped behind Issei, mostly due to their group hogging the whole sidewalk to themselves. He awkwardly coughed into his hand.

Issei turned around and brightly grinned, "Uzumaki-senpai! Ohayo!"

Naruto lifted a hand. "Ohayo."

His dull blue eyes traveled over to the girl next to Issei, who had apparently became his girlfriend in the last day. To him, she looked like a normal girl, long brown hair, a decent figure, pinkish colored eyes. Naruto let himself study the two people behind Issei as well and noticed their shock, and now they were pointing at the blonde, mouth gaping and eyes wide.

One thing about the girl that rang warning bells in his head was similar 'energy' he felt from her, as he could feel from Akeno. However, while similar, it was different as well. Something just didn't feel right to him about her. But who was he to judge another person. It's Issei's girlfriend, not his.

"Uzumaki-senpai, this is my girlfriend Amano Yuuma-chan." The brunette reintroduced.

She bowed slightly, politely smiling at him. "Nice to meet you!"

Naruto nodded back at her in greeting. Issei turned his shoulders and pointed at the other two guys there. "Uzumaki-senpai, Yuuma-chan, these two are my best buds, Matsuda and Motohama." The brunette couldn't wipe off the smirk off his face if he tried.

Then he pointed back at Naruto. "Guys, this is Uzumaki Naruto. I'm sure you've heard of him, he's actually a good guy! He saved me from the swim club two days ago!"

Matsuda held up his hands, a super serious look on his face. "Issei can we speak to you for a second."

Issei tilted his head in confusion before the two of them dragged the boy away before putting him into a headlock. They furiously started to whisper to each other. If Naruto really wanted to, he could have pumped some chakra into his ears to listen in, but he wasn't really into doing that. Instead he awkwardly stood there next to Amano-san and shoved his hands in his pockets.

His eyes drifted over to the girl and she looked up at him and smiled brightly. Naruto felt his eyebrow twitch and gave her an awkward half smile, before looking the opposite direction of her.

Awkward.

He could hear more whispering from the trio before they all stood up and came back over to the duo. Issei took his place next to Amano-san again and smiled triumphantly.

Motohama cleared his throat. "Uzumaki-senpai, we have listened to Issei, and we've decided that you are now neutral to us."

Matsuda nodded his head. "Only on one condition though."

Naruto blinked, but tilted his head. "What?"

Suddenly they were bowing low before him, and he took a step back in shock. "PLEASE NEVER HURT US!"

Even with his ninja trained eyes, he couldn't see them move.

Naruto sweatdropped and scratched the back of his neck, "Y-yeah sure."

The duo started to thank him and bow repeatedly, and finding this too suffocating and weird. Naruto did the only thing a normal person would do. He just started to run away from them.

He ran past other students, ignoring shouts of surprises and slowed down to a walk when he thought he was a safe distance away from the group of oddballs. He sighed in relief and trudged on. How did he end up meeting such strange people?

He looked up and noticed that he was very close to the gates of Kuoh Academy now. He must have been walking for a while, not paying any attention as his feet carried him there by instinct. Excluding running away from odd people.

"Ara, ara, if it isn't Uzumaki-san."

Naruto almost groaned. Almost. His eyes flicked over his shoulders as they rested on the form of Himejima Akeno.

"Ohayo, Himejima-san."

Then he saw _her._

He froze as he saw the unmistakable red hair, her long locks, and her turquoise colored eyes. She was piercing him with a stare and Naruto could almost feel a little bit sweat form on the back of his neck.

His situation with Gremory-san was...on pause. That was a good way to describe it. He wasn't aware if she had talked with Himejima-san about anything at all, but instead of confronting the redhead about what had happened at the school house, he had done what he had believed to be the most logical route.

He ran away.

Yes, he knew it wasn't proper and he knew it probably could have caused some issues, but he was hoping to put off a confrontation from her for at least, well, the rest of his life. Live and forget, right?

Wrong. Clearly.

The girls stopped in front of him, one smiling sweetly and the other now smiling politely. "Uzumaki Naruto-san, am I correct?" Rias had spoke up.

"Gremory...Rias-san. Nice to meet you." He bowed his head.

Akeno raised her eyebrows, looking at Rias. "Ara, ara, it seems like you already have met buchou?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head, trying to school his face into something neutral. "Ah yeah, in front of the old school house…"

"Naruto-san had been caught smoking in the yard."

He flicked his eyes over to her, inwardly surprised at her cover up from his use of his jutsu. Why would she hide that information from Himejima-san? According to the rumors, the two of them were best friends, and were almost always seen together. Unless the redhead actually hadn't seen him use his Katon jutsu, and thought that it was a lighter?

It's possible.

Akeno raised an eyebrow and looked at Naruto. "Smoking on school grounds. You simply like breaking school rules, Uzumaki-san. That is grounds for an expulsion if Buchou here doesn't say anything that is…"

He froze, looking at the ground. If he understood what the two of them were implying...He narrowed his eyes and he looked up at them, irked. "What do you want?"

Rias for the most part, had a good poker face. "However do you mean, Naruto-san? All I want is for poor students like you to take your educations seriously. Just show up on time for the rest of the month, and that should be enough for you to realize the importance of a proper education."

He wasn't amused.

"Yes ma'am." He muttered, face blank.

Without waiting for another word, he turned to walk away from the duo. He relaxed his clenched fist that he was unaware had even formed into a tight ball. He's never taken kindly to threats, or blackmail.

"One more thing, Naruto-san."

He paused midstep, looking back at Akeno first, who was smiling still at him, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"Yes?"

"Tomorrow, after school, I'd like to talk to you briefly in my clubroom, if you would kindly join us?"

His eyes flickered over to Akeno again, her smile never faltering. He looked back at the redhead. "Sure."

"Great, I will send someone to escort you there tomorrow afternoon, Naruto-san. Good day."

He watched her walk by him, back straight and a content, pleasant smile on her face. His eye twitched. How annoying.

"I'll see you in class then, Uzumaki-san."

Akeno hid her giggle behind a dainty hand before walking to catch up to her friend. Naruto stared at the two leaving. Well it seems as though it won't be entirely boring of a school year. He could feel several students walk by him as well, but he didn't care.

He was bothered.

Bothered by the energy he felt from Rias, the same energy he felt inside of Akeno. Not similar, like Amano-san's but actually the same. Things were happening, but he had no idea what it could possibly mean. His instincts were just screaming at him. Why else would these people suddenly show up in his life?

He was well aware that he had a knack for being a trouble magnet. Whether it was his fault or not, the universe liked to test him. Or in certain situations, they simply like to shit all over him. Throw the weight of the world on the shoulders of an individual and they'll eventually fall.

Shit's about to go down.

 **~~o0O0o~~**

Rias's eyes glanced behind her quickly, gazing upon the mysterious blonde. She ignored the awed looks the student body was giving her. Her queen, Akeno, was right beside her, smiling politely at everyone they passed. Rias dropped her smile and resisted a frown.

"Akeno…"

The mere tilting of her head allowed Rias to assume that she had heard her and was now listening. The redhead continued.

"Do you think that there is anything...odd… about Uzumaki Naruto?"

Akeno hummed, bringing a finger up to her lips in thought. "Naruto-san is a very private person. He tends to be alone as much as he can. Although I do get the sense that he has been through something that has changed him…"

"What about physically?"

"Well that's…" Akeno paused, a memory suddenly washing over her. "There was this one time, a couple of days ago actually…"

Rias looked at her best friend, "What happened?"

Akeno looked down, crossing her arms in front of her. She looked down in thought, "Well the best way to describe it was that I had become intimidated by him."

"Intimidated?"

"Hai." The ravenette nodded, "Naruto-san hadn't even done anything but I had suddenly felt very small. His presence filled that entire hallway and it was somewhat off putting."

"Off putting?" Rias echoed. She wasn't understanding what Akeno was trying to say. 

Akeno looked over at Rias and felt somewhat ashamed of her poor descriptive telling. She laughed lightly. "The closer I had watched, the more I noticed just how paranoid he had seemed. He seems hyper aware of everything that happens around him, despite listening to music most of the time. Physical contact puts him on edge, and it seems he doesn't like to be reminded about his solitude."

Rias looked ahead in thought. A mere human, with no evidence of aggression he had put her queen, the strongest in her peerage beside herself, on alert when around him. She had little doubt in her mind that if Akeno hadn't been intimidated, she wouldn't have gone through the pain of watching every little thing that the boy had done. That's what intrigued her the most about the blonde. With merely a glance, he had gained the attention of Himejima Akeno.

The king had felt it too, obviously. Uzumaki Naruto was different. The way his eyes had carefully studied her when she had approached, and his control over his emotions was top notch. She was surprised when she noticed how tense he had become after noticing her. She knew it was because of what she had saw from him two days ago.

He controlled fire.

"Akeno, we should keep an eye on him." Rias started, "There is more to him that meets the eye."

Akeno blinked owlishly at her king. "You feel something from him?"

She shook her head. "No. I saw it myself. I had told you that he had been caught by me, smoking a cigarette in front of our clubroom. But he had lit the cigarette without a lighter."

Akeno almost stopped walking, somewhat surprised at what her king was saying. "Are you saying that he created fire? A sacred gear perhaps?"

Rias nodded, "I'm not sure. I will have Koneko sniff him out, and follow him for today. But he could also be somehow related to the Phenex clan."

Akeno hummed again in thought, "It is possible, he would be a powerful ally to have if he were."

"Indeed." Rias agreed. "He would be of great service if I could bring him into my peerage. Or if there was anyway I could test his abilities…My bishop piece would be suitable enough, don't you think?"

"Hai buchou!" Akeno smiled sweetly at her best friend. She was relieved that she wasn't the only one who had felt that something was just simply _weird_ about the blonde. She had been noticing it for a long time due to the past two years that they shared a classroom together. But now that Rias herself has taken an interest, she knew she just couldn't resist such an interesting catch.

She licked her lips in anticipation. _"Prepare yourself, Naruto-san. Buchou tends to get what she wants…"_

 **~~o0O0o~~**

The school bell rang, signifying the end of the school day. Naruto hadn't been more excited to speed out of the classroom, hoping to avoid any of his classmates...particularly a certain raven haired 'onee-sama'.

He ducked under the radar as he swiftly avoided the contact of most of the students. They seemed to be too preoccupied with the end of school to notice his presence. He slipped and sneaked around the hallways, heading towards the entrance. He was avoiding them, he knew. He was avoiding all of them.

He had skipped out on sitting by the tree today, opting to eat his lunch on the roof, instead. He almost felt bad. He rather enjoyed Shouko's company. The comfortable silence between the two had been somewhat of a break for the blonde. He had hoped to meet her and eat with her a couple times a week, but not everyday. After all he needed his time alone as well.

Naruto slipped out of the school, unnoticed, and unstopped by anyone. He slowly felt his shoulders relax. Being in the school was never comfortable for him. There were too many students, and it was too loud. He was always tense and nervous, especially in the hallways. He's never had an issue with this before he had came to this world. But since joining the school, and after everything that has happened to him, being in large crowds of people only irritated him.

He was much more comfortable in his apartment, alone.

Naruto opened the door to his apartment, and locked it behind him. His eyes flickered briefly over everything, looking for anything out of place. It was instinctual. He had developed this habit at some point in time since he has come to this world.

His eyes looked at the window is his bedroom, feeling satisfied when he saw that it was closed still. He took off his school jacket and walked into the kitchen. He went to the fridge and took out one of the bottles of sake he keeps in there.

He plopped down on his couch and poured himself a little to drink. He sipped it from the small cup. Normally he can enjoy some hot sake, but to him, cold sake tastes just as good. It gives it a different flavor almost.

Naruto had, unfortunately, taken up drinking about a year ago when one of his clones had been coerced into going to a coworkers birthday party. The clone had came home completely trashed and the memories and feelings Naruto had received when the clone dispersed had been...enjoyable.

He sat and enjoyed the bottle, sipping slowly. His face slowly started to feel warm, and he took off his pants. His head was light, but at the moment he had felt carefree. He was fine sitting like this for a long while, enjoying the cozy feeling that settled in the pit of his stomach.

Ah he could see why Obaa-chan would drink so often, when it felt so good. He relaxed his head back on the sofa, the small action making his head spin a little bit. He set down the empty sake bottle on the cushion next to him.

A loud growl erupted from his stomach. He was hungry. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the ceiling, debating the pros and cons of getting up from his comfortable position to even start boiling water for some ramen.

His stomach growled again, and that made up his mind for him. Naruto went over to his cupboard and looked inside. He frowned when he saw nothing in there. Now that he's thought about it, he hasn't really gone shopping recently. He groaned, his stomach growling again.

Maybe he'll just go out to eat right now.

Putting his pants back on, he grabbed his cigarettes and wallet before heading out to town to grab some grub. He lit a cigarette and walked along the sidewalk. It took a little more concentration for him to make sure that his balance was acceptable to the general public. Wandering around drunk or tipsy was enough for people to call the police.

He shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked through the park, feeling like it was disturbingly quiet. His eyes studied the environment. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he stopped walking. His face was warm, and his vision wasn't perfect, but he was very positive of what it was he was seeing right now.

His blood ran cold.

In front of him, was a brutal scene. A girl, with long brown hair and pink eyes was grinning maniacally. Her outfit was less than an outfit, and could be described better as a few wrappings covering important parts of her body, leaving little to imagination. What caught her attention the most were the two black wings sprouting from her back, displayed wide and proud for the world to see.

The girl was holding what looked to be a spear of some sort of energy. Which this spear happened to be sticking out of the body of the second person present.

He felt his eyes flickered to the other person, recognizing his body. The brown hair, brown eyes, and facial features couldn't be mistaken as anyone else.

Hyoudou Issei.

Naruto tensed, his foggy mind registering who the other person was finally. It was the girlfriend, Issei's girlfriend, that he had met this morning. But the difference between the two of them were apparent. This morning she was polite, and charming. Now she was ruthless and somewhat psychotic. And apparently she was _really_ into S&M.

But this was taking it too far.

Naruto took his hands out of his pockets, and glared at the winged creature in front of him. It's been awhile since he's actually been in combat, but despite his rustiness and his somewhat tipsy mind, he should be able to take her. Maybe he could save the boy as well.

He crouched low, and jumped forward. He prepared for a kick, directing it at the girl. He was moving fast, much quicker than he had anticipated. What he wasn't anticipating was the fact that suddenly the world was spinning.

He almost threw up.

He felt his body crash into the girl, knocking the wind out of him and effectively knocking the two of them over. Naruto groaned when they rolled to a stop, apart from each other. He could feel the world spinning and he tried to sit up, only to feel his body fall over again.

He heard a feminine grunt of pain next to him and he looked over at the girl. She started to get to her knees, shaking the cobwebs out of her head. Naruto blankly stared. Oh shit, now he actually has to deal with the girl. He was kind of hoping to just knock her out with his kick.

Oops.

She turned towards him and glared, "What the hell?"

"U-uzumaki….senpai…?"

Naruto looked up at the boy with a giant hole in his stomach. His blue eyes narrowed when he realized how much blood the brunette has lost already. He'd have to hurry if he was going to save him.

Naruto crawled to his feet, carefully making sure he doesn't lose his balance. The girl got to her feet as well, putting a hand on her hip while she stared at him, eyes burning with annoyance.

"Uzumaki? Oh, you're the blonde that I met this morning."

Naruto ignored her, and started studying the surroundings. Issei's eyes were wide as he stared at Naruto. They were currently in the park, it was somewhat big, plenty of forest. They were near a fountain, with park benches and lamp posts on either side of pavement. His eyes flickered over to the girl again, noticing that she was getting ready to attack. He'd have to draw her away from Issei, if he was going to do anything about this. He'd have to lure her into attacking a clone.

Naruto dodged out of the way of a spear, noticing its explosion upon impact. He landed, and almost fell over, before standing up.

"You're the pervert's girlfriend from this morning… You looked better this morning than you do now."

He squinted his eyes, studying her reaction. Her eyebrow twitched, before she smirked. "And you are the filthy human! I was just going to leave for the day and leave him for dead, but I guess I have time to play with you."

"' _Filthy human?'"_ Naruto thought. His eyebrows furrowed. _"So she's not a human?"_

She summoned an array of light spears before cackling. "Please dance for me human!"

Naruto cursed slightly as he dodged out of the way of several spears flying towards him. He ducked behind a tree before summoning a clone and hid himself. The clone proceeded out of the cover to draw her into the forest, and away from them.

"Is that all you have in you? Bird face!"

She blanched, "Bird face!?" She growled angrily at him. "You should learn respect when talking to a fallen angel!"

The clone blew a raspberry at the girl before dodging another spear. He took off into the forest, the fallen angel hot on his heels. Naruto sweatdropped at the obvious provoke from his clone. Naruto watched the two for moment, before he was sure they were far enough away, and distracted enough. Small explosions surrounded through the area.

Naruto made his way over to Issei's form, noticing his eyes were losing their light. Naruto stopped in front of the boy and held him in his arms. Issei's eyes flickered over to him, and seemed to look through the blonde instead of at him.

"U-uzumaki-senpai…"

He coughed up some blood. Naruto made a clone real quick, allowing it to sit and gather natural energy as he held the quickly fading boy. It'll take a couple of minutes to gather enough so he could heal the boy.

"Issei-san." Naruto acknowledged. "You look like shit."

The brunette's lips tugged upward just barely. "Am I...dying?" He muttered quietly.

Issei's brown eyes were replaced by green for a split second. His voice suddenly sounding feminine. He blinked and it was all gone. His heart clenched in pain, and his eyebrows tightened. He felt his lips go thin.

The boy coughed, a little speck of blood splattered on Naruto's cheek. "If I were going to die...I'd rather die in the arms of someone beautiful."

Naruto's eyebrow twitched.

Issei looked back at Naruto, before slightly smiling. "But I guess you will do, Uzumaki-senpai."

Issei's eyes closed and Naruto's clone dispersed. He could feel his sage power flowing through him. Naruto started to draw upon Kurama's chakra, combining it with his sage mode. He could suddenly feel the energy all around him. He could feel his clone and the fallen angel fighting. He could feel Issei's life force hanging on by a thread. He could feel the hatred and the anger the nature around him. This world felt tainted, and dirty. It was odd. In his own world, sage mode had felt so peaceful, so nice and complete. But here? It was hard to deal with, the dirty feeling that this natural energy made him feel.

It was disgusting.

Naruto's eyes opened. Instead of blue eyes, his eyes were now a light orange, with a cross like pupil. He studied the wound, before putting his hand over Issei's stomach. He poured some of his chakra into the brunette, using his energy to heal the wound in his stomach.

Naruto felt, more than watched, the hole in his gut close up. Naruto won't be able to heal him to a hundred percent, but he'll be able to at least save the boys life.

He suddenly felt a strange source of energy appear on the ground, his attention diverted to it. Red runic seals appeared on the ground, generating a decent amount of energy along with it. He kept healing Issei, but tensed up, prepared to fight if needed.

Crimson hair, and a killer body appeared before him. Naruto's eyes narrowed suspiciously. This energy that he had felt from the girl this whole time… was she a fallen angel as well? The two energies were very similar, but there was a difference.

Rias Gremory appeared from her transportation circle. She was expecting to see a bloody and probably dead Hyoudou Issei on the ground. She was not expecting to see a blond haired, whiskered teenager who usually has blue eyes, but currently has orange eyes with a cross like pupil. She was expecting a dead Issei. Not the blonde haired boy healing the brunette. Nor was she expecting the fallen angel Raynare, to be fighting a copy of the blonde haired teen.

Rias openly gaped at the scene, not sure what to do in the situation. She had responded to Issei's desire to see a beautiful woman as he died. It all went according to plan, her familiar had given Issei the flyer earlier today.

What a surprise it was to see the blonde that had plagued her thoughts for a majority of the day.

She closed her mouth and tensed. She studied him for a second. The blonde's eyes were lidded, but suspicious. For a good reason, she supposed. He was still in his school clothes, despite being hours after it had ended. The blonde's hands were bloody, but he seemed unaffected. For a normal human civilian that wouldn't have been something normal. Alarms started to ring in her own brain.

He stopped healing Issei. The two stared each other down. Neither knowing exactly what to say. Rias looked somewhat hostile to him right now.

After another explosion in the background, Naruto gently laid Issei's head down. He stood up to his full height, glaring at Rias.

He jerked his head behind him, "Are you a fallen angel as well?"

The redhead froze. This feeling….this….sudden need to be submissive. She always wondered what Akeno was talking about this morning when she had felt his intimidating aura. His orange eyes faded black into his blue-gray. She shivered, feeling very small under his gaze.

She tried to keep some of her dignity, tilting her head up in a challenging manner. "Naruto-san, What are you doing here?"

"You didn't answer me."

He didn't relent, nor did he allow her change the subject. His posture changed. It was very slight, but it hit her like a truck. She tensed and prepared to back away. Naruto had shifted his shoulders just a little bit, but lowered his center of gravity a hair. His hands twitched towards each.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Are you a fallen angel like her?"

Rias swallowed the lump in her throat. "No. I'm not."

"Then what are you? Your energy clearly doesn't feel human."

Rias flexed her wings, showing them to Naruto. "No, I'm not a human. I am a devil."

"A devil?" Naruto questioned. He put his hands up to his head and gave himself finger horns. "Like red devils with pitchforks? Is that why your hair is red?"

She almost laughed. Almost. "No, not like that. We are different. Fallen angels and devils are innately mortal enemies."

Naruto's eyes dropped down to Issei, who was steadily sleeping now. He looked at the busty girl in front of him. "Did you have something to do with this?"

"No." She lied through her teeth. Although, it wasn't technically a lie. She _didn't_ have anything to do with the _current_ situation. She could have stopped it, but she wouldn't have anything to gain if she had.

Naruto nodded, thinking about the situation slowly. He didn't take his eyes off the redhead, noticing how tense she was. Naruto had zero intention of attacking her, but the girl was jumpy enough right now that it was possible _she_ would attack _him._ Of course he wouldn't hurt her though.

"I see…" He muttered, relaxing his posture somewhat. "What are you doing here?"

"I could say the same for you." Rias stated, crossing her arms.

His lip twitched. She's got spunk, he could give her that much. He waved his arm behind him. "I was going to go get dinner. No food at home."

"Oh."

…

…

It was awkward. They were trying to be polite with each other, but neither wanted to really talk about it because of the questions that would arise. Rias was definitely NOT a human to Naruto, which spark his curiosity. To Rias, Naruto was somewhat of an unknown. Clearly the boy had power, how much power he had was kept her tense. He at least had enough power to instinctually make her tense. Not to mention that he had saved Issei by healing him…

Naruto perked up mentally when he received his clones memories. He had successfully beaten the fallen angel into a retreat. Her curses at him almost amused him. His clones could be very annoying when they wanted to be...Looks like he has no reason to stick around any longer. Time to go.

Naruto sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Look, I don't want to beat around the bush anymore. Clearly you were going to do something here. I don't know what it is, but I don't care anymore. The guy is alright now, I healed him."

Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets before starting to walk away. His clone can deal with the fallen angel. He almost tripped though when his foot didn't go exactly where had wanted it to go. Guess he was still a little tipsy.

"Are…" Rias started, catching his attention. He stopped walking, swaying a tiny bit. "Are you drunk?"

Naruto stared.

He sniffed and looked away from her, face blank. "No."

"So you are drunk."

He felt his eye twitch. Glaring at her, he crossed his arms. "I just said no. Do you not listen?"

Rias gave him a disapproving look. "You're a terrible liar."

Hmm. Touché.

Rias stepped forward. Naruto watched her as she approached Issei. Despite what he had said, he was curious what it was that she wanted to do. Naruto stared silently, noticing how long her hair actually was. It was incredible. He wondered how long it would take her each day to dry it.

Rias looked up at him again, nervously. She wasn't expecting him to stand there and just watch her. She put her hand on Issei's chest, feeling his steady breathing up and down. She resisted the urge to sigh. All of this planning so that she could reincarnate Issei into her peerage…

"What's the matter?" Naruto asked, seeing her pause.

Rias looked over at the pale blonde. "Tonight I was going to reincarnate Hyoudou Issei so he can become a member of my peerage. A fellow devil. But you had saved his life, so now I am unable to do so."

Naruto frowned. "Peerage?"

"My servants." Rias stated casually, flipping her hair behind her shoulder easily.

Naruto bristled.

He felt like he got hit in the face with ice cold water. He struggled to breathe, his blood suddenly felt white hot, searing his veins. He clenched his teeth and balled his hands into fists. His eyes flickered down to the unconscious brunette. Long brown hair replaced the resting Issei's short brown hair. There was a mark on his forehead now. It was green, with an X in the center of it, two lines on either side of it. Hyoudou Issei was now gone, and in his place was a familiar face. One Naruto hasn't seen for a long time. Blood poured out of the brunettes mouth and his eyes fluttered open. Now they were pale lavender, pupiless, instead of the brown that they once were.

Naruto crouched above the Hyuuga, eyes wide and sweat gathering on his face. Neji smiled at him.

" _You hold more than one life… in your hands...Naruto."_ Neji coughed up blood, Naruto's eyes were wide and he felt his shaking hand grip the side of Neji's head, cradling it gently. _"And it seems that my life too...may have been...one of them."_

Naruto felt tears prick his eyes. He could feel his mouth move, and he felt the question reverberate deep within his soul. "Why would you go so far for me? To even give up your life…?"

" _Because... you called me a genius."_ Neji smiled as one of his eyes closed, the light in the other eye was fading fast. It was a happy smile. Naruto choked back a sob, watching the seal on his forehead disappear slowly. The dying shinobi took one last shuddered breath and closed his eyes for good. The last bit of the seal disappearing along with his life

"Naruto-san!"

Naruto blinked once, feeling a tear fall from his eye and Neji's face was replaced with Issei's once again. He was breathing quickly, and his eyes were wide. He flickered his eyes around wildly. He could have sworn that he was just in the battlefield again…

"Naruto-san you're hurting me!"

Naruto looked at the other person beside him and finally noticed that he had a very strong grip on her wrist. She was gritting her teeth in pain, and looked surprised. Naruto loosened up his grip, but didn't let go.

He needed her to promise…

"Hyoudou-san won't become your servant." He muttered.

He needed to make sure it wouldn't happen again…

"W-what?" Rias asked, shocked by the turn of events.

"Issei will chose his own path. You don't get to decide for him."

He won't let someone die for the sake of others any more…

"You must promise me, Gremory-san."

He won't let anyone become caged again…

"You will give him a choice. Truly explain everything. Promise me."

Rias stared at the blonde haired boy in confusion. She was somewhat disorientated. This haunted look in the boys and his blank visage contrasted so much from the barely contained fury in his words. His voice was shaking and low. After she explained what a peerage was, he had gone deathly still for only a split second before grabbing onto her wrist, quite painfully.

She was a devil, and had far more resilience than a normal human… she was positive that if she was a human, he would have shattered the bones. His grip was far too strong, and he had only let go just enough to return circulation.

"I-I don't understand-"

"Give the boy a fucking choice Gremory, how hard is it to understand." Naruto snarled at her, teeth clenched and eyes wild.

She recoiled again at the pure acid that he had spat at her. Her eyes went wide when she noticed that Naruto's pupils were slits, but blue. They had more color in them than she has seen at all today. Barely contained rage wafted behind those cold orbs of ice. She shivered in actual fear, unsure what to do in this situation other than to nod at him.

"I-I promise, Naruto-san."

Just like that he had released her wrist. She clutched it to her chest, rubbing tenderly. She knew it would bruise, his grip had been like a vice, She couldn't have escaped from it even if she wanted too. It was somewhat surprising and also scary for her. This normal human boy had simply subdued her with a mere look and a hold onto her person. She would be lying right now if she said she wasn't shaking.

Because she was.

Naruto's eyes were shadowed, his long hair covering most of his face. But she could see it. Clear as day. The tears streaming down his cheeks, dripping from his chin. She didn't know what it was that she had said to trigger this boy into such a state, but she was in new water. How could she handle such a situation.

"Do you know where he lives?"

Rias almost flinched at the sound of his voice, her heart pounding. He sounded so hollow, his voice cracking during such a short sentence. She cleared her throat, attempting to gain some sort of emotional foothold back.

"Yes, I do."

His head nodded, and he reached down to the sleeping brunette. He carefully picked up the boy, putting him on his back a little awkwardly, but holding on to him with the back of his knees. Naruto faced away from her, holding onto Issei.

"Well let's go. Can't leave him here."

She simply nodded, summoning a transportation circle underneath the three of them. She wasn't sure what to say. How _could_ she say anything. The silence was stifling, and she felt obligated to break it. But how?

She peaked over to the blonde again, his eyes still hidden behind his hair. Clearly he wasn't going to start up a conversation. And she couldn't just ask him about how nice the weather was this past week, now could she?

They teleported into Issei's room. Naruto took no time at all to gently place the boy down in his bed, stripping him of his bloody shirt and was about to grab another t-shirt to put back on him when Rias's hand on his forearm stopped him. He stared at the appendage blankly.

"No need, Naruto-san. I will heal him the rest of the way...And I will talk to him tomorrow morning."

Naruto didn't look at her, he didn't want to show his face to her. He was embarrassed with the way he had acted, but there wasn't anything he could change about that now. Turning away from the redhead, he walked towards the window, opening it up so he could jump out.

"You're leaving?"

Naruto paused again. Of course he was leaving. He couldn't stay in such company a second more. He felt like he was drowning. The expectation of a response weighed heavily on his shoulders and he felt so much older than he was. His fingers twitched, already craving a cigarette at the moment.

This is why. He could never be normal again, he couldn't just blend in with the average person. He has seen too much to pretend like it was all okay. Naruto bit the inside of his cheek, the pain giving him a sense of grounding. It let him know that he was still alive. It allowed him to feel something other than _numb._

"Will I see you at school tomorrow for our meeting?"

Rias had asked this genuinely. She would have to be dumb as a rock not to notice the amount of _pain_ that was in Naruto. She'd have to be blind to ignore those tears that poured from his soul. She always had a soft spot for hopeless cases. Her best friend Akeno had been like Naruto once upon a time… though it seemed like the blonde was much worse.

She was a sucker for sob stories it seemed.

Her heart wrenched, knowing that someone as young as her could suffer so much. Naruto didn't move, she could tell that he planned on using the window as a means for him to escape. Despite the fear she had felt earlier from him, she soon had realized that it was much the same as dealing with a scared animal. They will growl and bite and fight, only because of the pain they've experienced.

Naruto lifted his foot up and stepped on the windowsill. Rias held her breath, waiting for whatever it was Naruto would do. She hoped he would at least respond to her, she hoped that he would look at her.

"Goodbye, Gremory-san."

With those final words, Naruto jumped out of the window and dashed away. He landed in a crouch on the street corner, pulling out a cigarette and taking a deep drag. He walked his way home, his head down and a familiar burning between his fingers.

He henge'd quickly into an older male, put out his cigarette and walked into a store. He picked up a couple bottles of heavy liquor and picked up a few bentos to go. Quickly paying, he took his bag of groceries home.

He rested his back against his door, staring down at a crack in the painting.

He didn't move.

He stared.

He could feel it. The water and salt swirled behind his eyelid. He wouldn't let them fall. It was just too much effort today.

He was drained.

No energy.

Not hungry anymore.

He peeled himself off of the door he leaned on. Heading to the counter, and dropped the bag off. He pulled out another bottle of sake and opened it up, taking a huge chug out of the bottle. The burning sensation warmed his core from the ice that it was. He took the bottle back to his bedroom, suckling the liquid as if he were a toddler needing milk to live.

The mental release that alcohol gave him was comforting. It unwound his thoughts and brought him to a basic plane. He chugged the rest of the bottle. Glaring at the wall with all his memories. He smirked at a picture, one he had drawn from when he was a genin. The picture taken for joining Team 7. Team Kakashi. Team Uchiha _fucking_ Sasuke.

Naruto laughed at the picture, spitting a little. "Wha'dya think ov me NOW, huh Saske?"

He walked up to the picture ripping it off the wall. "Look at th'ero now. Look at me! Uzumaki _fuggin_ Narto, savin th'worl."

He glared at the picture. "Bet you're laugh'n. Wherver you are now, huh teme?"

He laughed, humorlessly. Suddenly feeling sick of the picture. His anger suddenly arose, and he grit his teeth in frustration. He crumpled the drawing up and threw it over his shoulder. He looked over at the other ones and glared at those.

"What're'u look'n at?"

He glared at them all, before grabbing a fist full of paper and crumpling them all and throwing them as hard as he could at the other side of the room. He started to shake at such an angry feeling burning in his chest. He hated these. Why did he have them?

He grabbed some more and threw them. He roared as he grabbed his nightstand and hurled it at the side of the wall as well, breaking the dresser and leaving a huge hole in the wall. He started to pace around, somehow still able to balance himself enough to spin in circles.

Or at least that's what he had thought before he found his face resting against the cool wooden floorboards of his apartment floor. He cursed loudly, feeling a sudden urge to put his fist in something, anything. He clenched his fist and hit the maple. He couldn't even feel it. His heartbeat was fast, he could feel it. His head was spinning. He wanted to tear something up. He punched the floor again this time. He growled when he still couldn't feel anything and yelled ferociously and went wild.

He kept punching the same part over and over, he lost how many times he had hammered his fists into the floor. It wasn't until his fist went through the wood and into the cement underneath did he stop. He panted, feeling the sweat drip from his chin. Or was it tears? He didn't know. He didn't care. They were both salty.

He looked up at the rest of the room, his chest clenching painfully. He picked up a picture of the rookie 9. His eyes landed on a pink haired girl, smiling brightly. He gripped the edges hard. Then his eyes wandered over to the other one. The one that had fixed him, had been there for him, and had supported him.

Her pale pupiless eyes stared back at him from the drawing. She was smiling gently, the amount of detail he had poured into her visage was palpable. Her long hair fluttered in the breeze. Her hands were crossed behind her back, and Naruto clenched his eyes shut. He could hear something dripping.

He could almost feel her love, through the picture alone. But it was real. It was a cheap replacement of what she had actually given him when they were together. He couldn't accept such a cheap false love. He wouldn't allow it.

He hated people who lied to themselves.

Does that mean he hated himself? He's been lying to himself for the past three years. Since he's been in this world. He closed his eyes, holding the drawing to his chest closely.

Yeah.

What a hypocrite.

He suddenly felt very exhausted and sick. His eyes opened and he looked at the mess he had made in his room. His nightstand broken, and had broken the porcelain ashtray that was on top of it. At some point in time he had flipped his bed, the mattress leaning against eh wall while the bed frame was upside down, one of the legs broken off.

The pictures were all thrown awry, creating a new carpet of paper. He lifted himself from the ground, noticing that his knuckles were bleeding heavily and his hand was cut up to shit. Blood had been rubbed everywhere on the floor, and the wall. Along his bed frame. Naruto didn't care. He just wanted to sleep now.

He walked over to his mattress and dragged it to the other side of the room, covering the hole he had made into the floor with his fists. He kept the drawing close to his chest, and plopped down on the mattress. He just wanted to sleep.

He clenched his eyes shut, feeling the tears leak out the corners of their confines. "Please Kami-sama…" he muttered, voice cracking from his screaming. He was hoarse. "Just give them back to me…"

He rolled over to his side, hoping to ball himself up into a tiny little being. He tried to pretend that he was just a fetus, ready to be born. He clutched his legs, squeezing tightly.

"Give them back to me… please."

He silently sobbed. He knew he was long gone.

"Just give them back."

 **~~o0O0o~~**

Whew.

What a hard note to end on…

I apologize to everyone, if this is a little too adult and deep, but Naruto isn't...Naruto anymore. Poor guy.

This chapter was a little dark, but had highlights as well. I hope you all are starting to understand somewhat exactly where Naruto's mental status sits. Let me give you a hint. It isn't pretty.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and I am looking forward to writing chapter three. Like I said before, I'm going to be trying to update the book about weekly to biweekly. Pm me any questions you might have and please favorite and review! Give me your thoughts!

Ja Ne


	3. Chapter 3

Happy New Year!

Alright, it's been a little bit since I've updated...I apologize. The holidays are so busy, ya know? Combine that with getting back from Boston, and then going to work for a week…. I've been busy. Hope you all had a good break.

I've re-uploaded the chapters to fix grammar errors, because my Beta reader MetalMechaMan is so awesome. Thanks again!

Now to address some reviews. I just wanted to say that some of you... I'm a little bit disappointed. Fanfiction has somewhat ruined certain aspects of angst, drama, and REAL LIFE mental disorders that can take place in a book and some people just chalk it up to "emo".

Some of you seem to have no idea what the difference between emo and clearly having some sort of mental disorder is. I feel as though the way Sasuke was portrayed in both the manga/anime and in Fanfiction has ruined the fact that he had suffered through an intense traumatic event that literally fucked his whole life up. Minus his intense hatred, I actually think he came out somewhat okay.

Clearly some of you have this idea that if someone is suffering, they suddenly need to wear black, slit their wrists and be emo? Where is that logic? It's completely stupid to automatically assume that and that thinking contributes to such negative ideas about mental disorders. Your brain is just as important as your body after all.

Another thing I want to say is that Naruto is in no way "nerfed" in this story. He is still as strong as he was back at the end of the war, except maybe a bit rusty. But his 'fight' with Raynare wasn't really even a fight. He was drunk, and he had no intention of killing her, only driving her away from the scene. This story is much more about a mental growth, than a physical growth.

As a clarification, Naruto will NOT be joining anyone's peerage. Sorry if I burst some bubbles, that's how my story is going.

 **Also** if anyone wants to follow me at my twitter just to bug me about a chapter or just to talk, go ahead and give my twitter a follow! It's in my profile if you want to. At the very bottom.

This story is a crossover Naruto/Highschool DxD/Highschool of the Dead. One character took from Koe no Katachi. Fantastic movie if you've never seen it. I recommend.

Disclaimer. I don't own any anime of the sorts, not Naruto, HDxD, or HoTD, or Koe no Katachi. Nor do I own any references I make towards other anime or products.

Without further ado… please enjoy…

" **Speaking."** Kyuubi speaking

" _ **Thinking."**_ Kyuubi thinking

"Speaking." Person speaking

" _Thinking."_ Person thinking

 _Writing_

 **~~o0O0o~~**

 **When It Rains It Pours**

CHAPTER 3

 **~~o0O0o~~**

His head was pounding.

He could feel the pressure against the side of his head, and the repeated banging that followed the rhythm of his heartbeat was like a hammer to his skull. It was obnoxiously loud.

Or wait…

That was the door instead?

Naruto groaned and opened one eye, hearing someone knocking on his door at god knows how early. His bloodshot blue eyes drifted across the room and surveyed the damage he had done. It looked like a tornado has swept into his room at some point in time during the night and wreaked havoc.

His eye stared at hole he had made in his wall. What a pain. Now he's got to fix the wall so his landlord doesn't see it. His gaze landed on his clock that had miraculously been saved from destruction. The shining red numbers were an indication that the plug hadn't come undone from the outlet. Lucky him.

It was 7:14 a.m.

Maybe it wasn't as early as he had thought. It had felt like he had just closed his eyes ten minutes ago. He grunted as he used as much effort as possible to lift his body up off his mattress, stretching sore limbs from sleeping in such an awkward position.

His eyes landed on his hand, which was caked in dry blood. His wounds had healed almost entirely overnight, of course, but now he had to clean up the blood from his apartment? Great.

 _Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock._

He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and looked down at his shirt. The plain white t-shirt had several blood stains and his pants, as well, were smeared with blood. Dammit, these pants were his school uniform too. He'll have to take a lot of time to scrub the blood out. He looked around the room and found a half broken cigarette lying near him. He picked it up and watched as the non filtered end hang on by a thread of paper, tobacco spilling across the ground. His eyes followed the part to the ground when he flicked it off the rest of the cigarette. He lit it up and took a drag, standing and stretching.

He heard the door knock again and he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, resting his smoke on the ground for him to finish when he came back. He wobbled over to his front door, ignoring the hangover he had. He paused for a second before he looked down at his shirt. He wrinkled his nose before he decided to take the damn thing off.

Stripping himself of the garment and throwing it aside, he opened the door with eyes half lidded and a frown on his face. He was surprised when he saw the face of a girl. She was glaring at him, eyebrow twitching.

She had a pretty face. Make up done lightly and naturally, not too heavy, but enough to accentuate her natural beauty. She had light brown eyes, and long brown hair. Her hair was in a half ponytail, and bangs framed her face. She was also wearing a school uniform.

His school's uniform.

The girl in front of him jumped slightly, cheeks turning red as she averted her eyes. Her mood taking a sharp 180 degree turn from the annoyed look she gave him a second ago.

"I-I'm sorry to bother you this morning, but I can be patient if you want to put a shirt on...or something?"

Her eyes flickered over to him again. Naruto shrugged. "I'm fine like this."

Her blush faded and she cleared her throat. "Right. Um, well my name is Miyamoto Rei. I live right above your apartment and last night I just heard a lot of commotion...I was just checking to see if you were alright…?"

"Last night?" He echoed, recalling what he had done. He definitely wasn't quiet, that was sure enough. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry for the disturbance."

Rei's eyes started to dart around him, looking into his apartment, before flickering back to his face.

"Right, I'm sure you are. Sorry to bother you again." She slowly started to turn away, eyes glued to him. Naruto sighed in irritation and started to close the door.

"Ah, pardon me?"

He paused in his action, looking at the girl with a raised eyebrow. She was staring at him with a frown on her face now, fingers fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

"You don't happen to go to Kuoh Academy...do you?" She asked, curiously.

The blonde stared blankly. He really would like to just get back to sleep if it were possible. This whole ordeal was strange and he wanted to be done with it.

"Yeah I do." He grunted out.

Rei's eyes flickered with some recognition. He almost regretted his answer. "You don't happen to be Uzumaki Naruto then...right?"

He merely nodded. He watched her tense slightly, her eyes widening just the tiniest fraction. Maybe to someone else her reaction might have been pretty neutral. But Naruto could tell that his answer had put her on edge. Her eyes flicked lower, quickly, before looking up at him again.

"You should get your arm looked at." She nodded to the dried blood that covered his arm. He glanced down before shoving his hand in his pocket, looking away from her.

"I'll be fine, just a little scratch."

Her eyes narrowed. If she cared at all about who he was, she hasn't mentioned anything. Although she seemed much more tense now than when she had first arrived. He was somewhat grateful that she didn't mention anything else after that.

She nodded her head, "Riiiiiiiight. And what could cause such a 'little scratch'?" Clearly she had doubts.

"A cat came into my apartment. I don't like cats. Apparently they don't like me either."

"And that cat broke your night stand and flipped your bed?"

Naruto looked over his shoulder at the visible mess that was his bedroom. "It was a big cat." He lied through his teeth.

She didn't believe him.

"Uh huh…" She dead panned at him. "Did the cat drink all that liquor as well?"

He stared at her. Damn she was persistent. "No, that was me."

"You know it's illegal right? How do you even get any?"

He shrugged. "I guess I look old."

She scoffed. "You look like a bum, more like it…" Suddenly she marched up to him, pausing momentarily. Naruto tensed at the action, not expecting her to come into his personal space.

"Wha-" He started but was cut off when she aggressively grabbed his arm, bringing out of his pocket. She glared down at the appendage, inspecting it keenly.

"Let's get this cleaned up."

Naruto wasn't sure what was happening. But he was walking backwards, towards his kitchen. He watched as his front door closed and suddenly he was sitting down. He blinked a few more times, hearing his sink run.

His eyes drifted towards the girl who had decided that trespassing was what she had wanted to do today. She was looking at the bentos he had bought with disgust, sniffing them.

She muttered something under her breath before throwing them in the garbage. Naruto frowned.

"Hey I just bought those yesterday."

"And you left them out all night, they smelled rotten."

He couldn't really retort. He had a streak of eating spoilt foods. He just didn't want to waste any money. But Rei had other plans, he guessed. She looked over at him fixedly.

"Can I look in your bathroom for any disinfectants? If a stray cat really scratched you, then we need to clean it. They're claws can hold the most bacteria and germs out of almost any other animal."

Naruto tried not to glare at her. She was beginning to get on his nerves. "Well you've already barged into my kitchen, what's another room?"

She merely nodded before walking out of the room. Naruto stared after her in disbelief. He feels like he should just tell to fuck off and mind her own business, but her reluctant concern and help had felt...comforting. It was odd. It was familiar, the way she was treating him. Sakura used to scold him and do this sort of stuff whenever he had gotten hurt himself.

His fist clenched slightly, but his train of thought was interrupted when he heard Rei shuffle back into the room.

"What the hell is this?"

Naruto looked over at her. She was holding a rag and some antiseptic in one hand and the other one was holding the cigarette he had put down in his room to finish after he had dealt with the annoying person at his door.

He glared at her. "Do you know anything about privacy? Or common courtesy?"

"Do you?" She snapped back.

"You don't even know me, woman."

"It doesn't take a genius to learn that you are rude as hell."

He opened his mouth to retort. But then closed it. Of course he knew about common courtesy, but he just never found the need to really _use_ it. He dropped his eyes and tried to glare a hole in his table.

Rei sighed before walking past him, rinsing the butt with water before throwing it away. "You should quit that disgusting habit. It's terrible for you and you are a minor. It makes your teeth yellow, you smell terrible, and is just a ticket to get cancer. Do you want cancer?"

He was pretty sure he couldn't get cancer, thanks to his Uzumaki blood. Thankfully. "My teeth aren't yellow." He mumbled in defense.

"No they're not." Rei admitted, "But you smell like shit. And put this on while I clean your hand. I don't want to see you half naked this whole time."

A t-shirt had hit him in the face, momentarily blindfolding him. He tensed reflexively feeling for an aggressive aura from her, expecting some sort of attack. He relaxed when he took off the blindfold and saw that she had moved to the other side of the table, setting up to clean his hand.

"Well it _is_ my home. I could be full naked if I wanted to be."

Rei gave the complaining blonde an exasperated look. " _Please_ don't. I'd rather you have the shirt on while I do this."

Naruto grumbled as he put the t-shirt on. He slumped back in the chair as she grabbed his arm and started to clean it. She washed off all the blood first. He looked down at the much smaller gashes in his hands. They really healed up quite well.

His blue eyes watched her work, confidently and quickly. Her well manicured hands getting somewhat dirty from cleaning all the blood off of his arm and hand. Her eyes concentrated on her work. They were focused and strong.

He didn't flinch when he felt her open up the scabs and spray it with the disinfectant. He was used to it from all the time he had been taken care of from Sakura and Hinata. It was almost...relaxing… in a sense. Minus the tense atmosphere that surrounded the two of them.

Her hands were soft, he mused. They were thin and attractive hands. Unlike the hands of a shinobi, who had rough and calloused ones. His eyes drifted up to her face, noticing that her eyelashes were long.

He frowned and despite himself, he couldn't stand the silence much longer. "You don't like talking to me, do you?"

Her hands paused, just a moment, before returning to their work again. Her eyes glanced over at him, softer than they had been for a while. "There isn't anything to talk about... My father always said 'silence is better than fake laughs.'"

He snorted. "Smart man."

Rei glanced at him again, eyes studying over his blue eyes. She studied his pale cheeks, which had a little bit of blood on them. He looked tired, she mused. Probably from whatever it was that had happened last night.

She knew about Uzumaki Naruto. Almost everyone in Kuoh Academy does. She had heard much worse about him than what she has currently witnessed this morning. Both of her parents worked in the police department. They had frequently came home and talked about their cases over dinner.

Naturally, she would pick up on a few things. Rei, herself, knew that high schoolers and teenagers had terrible habits of labeling people before they had a chance to prove themselves. She has reason to believe that maybe Naruto had been caught up in this wave of judgement.

Although he had terrible attendance, and clearly broke the law by smoking and drinking.

"Besides…" She started, thinking out loud. "It's not that easy to ask questions to the school's number one trouble maker."

She had been teasing him, but the silence he fell into had made her regret saying it. She looked over at him and saw that his eyes were glued to the table, unblinking and clearly thinking about something. He was quiet.

Rei inwardly sighed, somewhat annoyed by his silence but she continued to work quietly anyway. His hand really wasn't that bad, which was surprising for the amount of blood that she had seen in his room and what was on his body.

She had taken a few moments to study the drawings that were thrown about. They were incredible, to say the least. She wouldn't have had a single clue that someone like him would be into the arts. The place he drew seemed so life like, the effort and time he must have put into them was impressive to even imagine it.

A few of his drawings had captured her interest. It seemed like an entirely different world, from the way the buildings shapes and designs were to the mountain next to the town that had faces on it. It reminded her of Mount Rushmore in America.

She was very impressed with the people he had drawn though. They all had very distinct and weird fashion, but they seemed so life like. Almost like they all were actually their own persons.

How little she had known.

She finished up with her work and finalized her work by bandaging the small cuts. Naruto blinked, awaked from his stupor and studied her work. He seemed content, nodding appreciatively.

"It looks good." He glanced at her. 

She couldn't help but smile at him, satisfied that he had been okay with her work.

"I'll be heading to school now, and I expect you will be leaving shortly soon as well?"

Naruto followed her to the door, opening it for her. "Na, I've got a terrible migraine, and someone's gotta a clean up this mess." He gestured to his room.

The brunette raised an eyebrow. "The mess the cat made?"

He gave her a one handed finger gun. "Exactly."

She sighed, straightening her blouse. "You should really focus more on school, Uzumaki-san. It's important."

"I'll take that into consideration." Naruto mumbled.

Rei turned to walk down the stairs, ready to head out for the day. She stopped when she had heard Naruto's voice from the doorway. She turned and looked over her shoulders, surprised to see him bashfully looking away from her.

"Thank you." He said, scratching his cheek. "For fixing up my hand."

She smiled, glad she was able to help a little bit. She twirled around, waving behind her. "Don't get used to it, Uzumaki!"

He watched her walk towards school, a little smirk on his face. Despite how odd this encounter had been, he rather enjoyed the small time they had been together. He almost felt like he was talking to an old friend again…

He shook his head, ridding his head of such thoughts. The small action reminded him of the hangover he presently had to deal with. He decided a small nap would be worth it before he got to cleaning his apartment. He walked back to his room and flopped down on the bed, closing his eyes tiredly. He was surprisingly exhausted. Combine his headache with the stress of dealing with that meddling woman… He needed the break from reality.

He took deep breaths, slowing his heartbeat down to a slow and steady rhythm. He could feel his body relax and finally, he drifted off to sleep.

 **~~o0O0o~~**

Naruto woke up feeling much better than he had in the morning, leaving his bed sometime in the afternoon. His hand was fully healed after the care he received that morning.

He sighed after eating a cup of ramen and inspecting his apartment. He really had done a number on it...Damn cats.

He picked up the papers that he had crinkled and thrown, carefully unwrapping them. He tried his best to flatten them and get rid of the wrinkles and tears. His eyes were bleak, memories dancing in his mind from the various images. Tenderly, he placed them back on the wall, giving an approving nod when he finished that.

Afterwards he grabbed a bucket of hot water and a sponge, washing and disinfecting the blood with some soap. He absentmindedly scrubbed, eyes not focused, and mind unthinking.

The once clear water now stained brown from the blood left in the sponge. He tiredly wiped away the imaginary sweat that gathered on his forehead, proud of his clean up job.

He dumped out the water and picked up his mattress, throwing it on the wall and picked up the pieces of his nightstand, ashtray, and bedframe. He threw them all in the dumpster outside of his apartment building. After sweeping up the remaining splinters and glass shards, he vacuumed the room, getting rid of any and all specks of dangerous splinters.

Clapping his hands together to get rid of the dirt, we wiped them off on his pant legs, which still happened to be his uniform pants. He sniffed his armpits, trying to smell a foul odor. Besides his normal smell, he didn't detect any bad body odor and just shrugged. He stripped his school pants and put on gray sweatpants.

He was just going for comfort at the moment more than looks. He threw on a black hooded sweatshirt and grabbed his wallet, intent on going out to grab some food and maybe another furniture set.

He pulled the hood over his head, enjoying the cool evening air. The sun set over the trees, basking him in a twilight. He quietly hummed a tune as he walked towards the district section of town. He walked through the park again, hoping that tonight nothing weird would happen.

He was wrong.

Naruto saw Issei in head of him, staring intently at the fountain that he had been killed next too only 24 hours ago. Apparently Issei hadn't felt his presence yet.

The blonde felt an aura, one that felt familiar to the girl's aura last night, suddenly appear in one of the nearby park pathways. Naruto wasn't sure if he should be impressed that the brunette could draw more trouble than himself or if he should be worried.

"Well, this is unfortunate."

Issei turned around, staring in surprise as a stranger appeared from the ground. Naruto eyed his physique. He was tall, maybe around 6 foot. He had wide shoulders and a face that appeared to be in his thirties. His black hair was covered up by a fedora hat, and he was wearing a long tan trench coat.

He was a suspicious character.

"Here I am, running into someone like you in this provincial town."

Naruto frowned, studying the man's every move. _"Does he not see me?"_

The man chuckled and looked up at the brunette, who for an unknown reason was sweating. Issei could feel, deep inside of him, a need to put distance between himself and the man. It was odd. He's never hated someone who he didn't know but this guy….just instinctively put him on edge.

" _I wonder if it has anything to do with becoming a devil like Rias-senpai had said."_ Issei thought, he clenched his fist and jumped back far as far as he could to put some space between himself and the unknown man.

He could feel himself sail through the air, landing gracefully and _much_ too far away than he thought possible. Issei's eyes widened. _"I just meant to backup a little bit! It must be my new devil powers!"_

"Shrinking away, huh?" The man said, folding his arms across his chest.

Issei glared at the man, sweat dripping down his cheek. He couldn't relax around him. He didn't know what could happen to him. "Who are you?!"

The man chuckled again, lowering his arms at his sides. Two pairs of black wings, like Yuuma's, sprouted from his back and spread wide. "Your master and friends are nowhere around. Nor are you showing signs of disappearing, nor are there any magic circles around."

Issei clenched his hands and crouched down, preparing himself to fight or run away when the opportunity arises. The man's purple eyes surveyed the surrounding area, looking for something.

"It seems to me that you are a 'stray'." The man finally said, holding out his hand. A blue spear manifested in his hand, pointing directly at Issei. Credit to the brunette, he saw the weapon and took haste in running the opposite direction. "Then I see no problem in killing you, devil."

" _He's a fallen angel!"_ Issei thought, looking for a way out of this situation. _"I have to get away!"_

Issei heard the flap of wings behind him and then peaked over his shoulder. The fallen angel was flying, winding his arm back to throw the spear. He wanted to dodge, to move, to run faster, _anything_ to get him out of the path of that weapon. Unfortunately, his eyes remained glued to the weapon, remembering a similar situation from yesterday. He remembered te pain, and the cold, dying feeling. He had momentarily forgotten all about the immediate danger he was in.

Suddenly he felt himself get hit by something like a truck. He's never been hit by a vehicle before, but he imagined that's how it would feel like. He felt his neck whiplash and something crashed into his body, pushing him off to the side. He skidded along the ground, shouting in pain as his head and various limbs smacked and rolled into the ground. Issei finally stopped rolling, but slid across the ground, scraping his exposed arms.

Issei finally stopped sliding, and he sat up holding his head. He winced in pain from the scrapes and various wounds. He heard an concrete exploding on the ground and wearily he looked up.

He blinked away the dizziness and focused on the figure standing exactly where he was just running a second ago.

"Ooops, I hadn't meant to push you that hard. Sorry."

Issei's eyes widened when he recognized the person who happened to have saved him from being a kabob. "U-uzumaki-senpai?"

Naruto's eyes drifted over to him, a blank look on his face. "At this point in time, I've saved you three times. You might as well call me by my first name."

"Three times?" Issie muttered, confused by what he had meant. He saved him from the swim club, then this guy right here...but what about the third time?

Suddenly flashes from the night before popped into his head, and he thought he had dreamed of his senpai standing over him as he died. Their short conversation had felt like it took place a year ago. He honestly hadn't realized that it was real this whole time, until Naruto just said that.

Naruto looked back at the man, studying his wings. "So you're a fallen angel, huh? I think i've gotten the hang of your energy archetype. And I think I can tell who's a devil now as well." He jerked his thumb over to the brunette. "Since the perv's energy is the same as Gremory's now."

The man tensed, making another light spear. This boy in front of him...he had pushed Issei out of the way when he had thrown his light spear and merely kicked the spear into the ground next to him. He appeared to be completely relaxed, but he could tell… the slight tensing of his muscles and the way his eyes flickered over their surroundings… he was no ordinary boy.

But he could feel that this blonde...the teen was in fact human. Something that had sent warning bells off in his mind. Perhaps he had some sort of sacred gear?

"Who are you human?" He asked the blonde.

Naruto sniffed, "Name's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto." He almost had to bite his tongue because for the briefest of moments, Naruto had wanted to tell this guy to remember his name…

"Naruto, eh?" The man echoed, testing it. "I am Dohnaseek, of house Grigori. Why is a human defending a stray devil?"

" _Stray devil? What does that mean?"_ Naruto thought, peeking over at Issei who was still staring at him with wide eyes. Clearly he had blown the poor boy's mind.

"Well you know," Naruto started. "I couldn't just sit by and watch some old guy put his pointy stick in some young kid." Naruto shook his head, hands on hips as if chastising him. "That's something a responsible senpai like myself should prevent."

Dohnaseek twitched, face contorted into a frown. "Aren't you snarky…"

"Snarky? Well that's a new one." Naruto scratched his head, closing his eyes.

Dohnaseek found an opening to hopefully incapacitate this human, maybe he could eliminate him first. Humans are just pesky creatures after all. He threw his spear, as quickly and as hard as he can at Naruto's chest.

After throwing it, his purple eyes made eye contact with the blonde's. Those blue eyes froze him in place with fear. His blue eyes seemed dead and chilled Dohnaseek to the core. Cold annoyance made him feel small, as if he had made the wrong choice to an question that pointed to the right answer. His breath hitched, feeling as if he had been stabbed in the throat, unable to inhale air.

Before the spear even made it halfway to the blonde, his spear exploded when red lighting made contact with it, nullifying the danger. He tore his eyes away from the blue.

"Was that your doing?" He looked one direction, at the devil he originally wanted to eliminate. "No I suppose it wasn't." Purple eyes looked at the other side, where a flash of red had caught his eye.

A magic circle deteriorated as three young women suddenly appeared. Dohnaseek instantly knew that they were devils. He frowned as he realized that his situation may have turned grave. He'll have to look for a way out of the situation alive…

His eyes flickered over to the blonde, who thankfully was paying attention to the new comers. The boy had struck a nerve deep inside him… one that only Kokabiel-sama and Azazel-sama had reached. For the instant his eyes met Naruto's… he was frozen up in fear. He had wanted to fly as fast and as far away as he possibly could. It unnerved him.

"Please keep your hands off of them."

A smooth feminine voice interrupted his thoughts and his attention was drawn to the females who had arrived. Issei's eyes widened when he recognized who had arrived.

"Rias-senpai!"

Dohnaseek grit his teeth as he made another spear, flinging over at the girl who spoke. "Who do you think you are, devil!"

A small white haired girl jumped in front and kicked the spear up, breaking it and nullifying the attack into nothing.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the small girl, "Hmmm?"

She was a very petite girl with white hair, and hazel eyes. Which happened to be glaring at the fallen angel in front of her. She was currently wearing the Kuoh Academy girl uniform. She had two long bangs going past her shoulders and several loose bangs on her forehead. She was wearing a small, black cat-shaped hair clip on both sides of her hair, probably keeping her side bangs back a little bit. She was very short, probably around 4'6". She could fit into his bag probably.

His eyes flickered over to the other two girls there. One of them was Rias Gremory, who he had sensed when she arrived via magic circle, as the fallen angel Dohnaseek had called it.

Which that alone had raised some questions...Magic? Wasn't that what dudes used to pull rabbits out of a hat? Is that how she had teleported to him yesterday?

The other girl didn't surprise him either. Himejima Akeno. Rias's right hand woman. She was smiling with her hands held in front of her. She caught Naruto's eye and they widened ever so slightly. The shinobi kept his eyes on her, noticing her smiled seemed to have been somewhat forced now.

"Why you…" Dohnaseek growled out, creating another spear. His eyes flickered around at the group. Four devils and one human… Honestly he didn't like his odds, especially with this human around. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was much more to the blonde than any of the other teenagers.

He kept the spear at his side, noting the positions and his distance away from the group. He needed to retreat…

Dohnaseek's eyes landed back on the group of females, specifically one. "Red hair…" He loudly muttered. "I can see that you're from the house Gremory."

Rias nodded, an air of dignity around her person. "Rias Gremory. How are you doing tonight, my good fallen angel?"

Her tone was almost mocking to him. Dohnaseek smirked in irritation. Clearly this girl was aware of her advantage over him. "Well, well, imagine this town being under the control of the next head of house Gremory."

The fallen angel jerked his head towards Issei, who had stood up and started to wander over to the others. "Is he one of yours?"

Rias raised her chin slightly, "Bring any harm to him and you will receive no mercy."

Dohnaseek put his fedora back on, hoping to leave peacefully. "Well, my apologies for what happened today. But you shouldn't let your servants run loose like that. Someone like me might hunt him down while out taking a walk."

Rias closed her eyes and smile, crossing them under her sizable chest. "Thank you for the advice. And for my part, if this ever happens again...I will not hesitate to start something." She opened her eyes and gave him a fierce glare. "Bear that in mind."

"I could say the same thing to you, next head of house Gremory."

Dohnaseek jumped into the air, and took off in flight. He couldn't have been more glad to have been able to retreat peacefully. He glanced behind him, hoping to catch one more look at the interesting blonde.

Naruto's dull blue eyes locked with his own. He nodded his head towards him, and broke eye contact. He truly didn't want to see that child for a minute longer.

The dark haired man could tell...he was dangerous.

Naruto watched the fallen angel fly away, not feeling a need to hunt him down at all. After he was out of sight, he glimpsed over at Rias's crew. He would really rather just avoid them tonight, but judging by the look she was giving him...that wouldn't happen.

Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets and was about to leave when a voice stopped him in his tracks. He was hoping to disappear before she could say anything.

"Why do I always seem to find you when trouble keeps happening, Naruto-san?"

Too late.

Naruto reluctantly turned around and walked up to the group, not meeting anyone's eyes. "Why is there always trouble with you involved? I just the bad luck to be walking by."

"Two nights in a row?"

Naruto sniffed. "Yep." And that's exactly what had happened.

Rias glanced at her servants. Akeno was blatantly staring at Naruto, eyebrows furrowed slightly. She hadn't mentioned yesterday's events to her queen yet, and she had felt somewhat guilty about that now. But she would never have guessed that she'd see him again so soon.

Koneko was sniffing and frowning. Her deep breathes made Rias aware that whatever it was she was smelling...was somewhat unusual.

Especially not after yesterday.

Issei rubbed his cheek, which had a bleeding cut. "Who the hell was that bastard?"

Rias sighed, looking over at Naruto. "Naruto-san, I'd like to introduce you to a member of my peerage."

She saw him tense at the word, ever so slightly. He relaxed a split second later and she forced a smile on her face. "This is Toujou Koneko, my rook. This is Himejima Akeno, my queen. And this is Hyoudou Issei, newest member of my peerage, and my pawn. He accepted on his own free will."

She added that as an afterthought, but seeing the calm look on his face she figured that it was best that she had added that.

"Why are you saying things like 'rook', 'queen', and 'pawn'?" Naruto asked, genuinely confused. Did those words mean anything? He knew about the word queen. To be a queen, you needed to be married to a ruler, or a king, right? So was Akeno and Rias….married? Were they lesbians? Naruto gulped, avoiding the thought process. It was a hell of an image to get rid of.

Rias smiled at him. "You weren't at school today, Naruto-san."

Naruto glared at her, sour that she would bring that up. "Are you going to tell on me, Gremory-san? I actually didn't take you for a tattletail."

Her smiled dimmed somewhat, "Well, no. I wasn't. I was more referring to our meeting that I had wanted to have. It would be nice to talk to you and catch you up on some information…"

She decided not to mention the fact that she also wanted to know more about him. After what she had seen yesterday, she was unbearingly curious about this blonde enigma.

Naruto looked hesitant. She took a second to look over his outfit. He was wearing a black hood that was pulled over his head, and gray sweatpants. He had normal sneakers on to finish the ensemble. Clearly he hadn't expected to see anyone…

Both of their train of thoughts were interrupted by a loud growl. Rias blinked in surprise, as did the other three members of her peerage. Naruto's cheeks colored the tiniest bit before he turned his head.

Rias smirked. "Of course we could grab something to eat as well. My treat."

He froze, eyes slowly making their way over to her. His face revealing nothing. "Where at?"

"Where ever you want to eat."

Surprising her and everyone else there, Naruto's eyes sparkled a bit brighter than usual. The grayish color fading into his bright blue eyes. Rias was a bit taken back by the sudden shift in his demeanor. Akeno giggled to her right, entertained by his reaction.

Naruto's lips tugged upward, just barely. "I know of a place…"

 **~~o0O0o~~**

Rias's smile was much more forced that she would have liked. She felt her eyebrow twitch. "Ramen?"

Naruto nodded next to her. "Yep. Pretty good, and cheap. It's a nice place."

Rias sighed. _"I guess he wouldn't know what a nice place would actually be, would he?"_

Naruto walked in to the door, nodding to the worker behind the counter as he sat down. Issei had immediately sat to the left of Naruto, much to her amusement.

Rias decided to sit down on the stool to Naruto's right, Akeno sitting next to her and Koneko on the end. They all ordered respectively, the man behind the counter didn't even take Naruto's order however. Rias merely raised an eyebrow at that. Did the blonde come here that often that the guy would know what he would want?

"Now what is it that you would want to talk about?" Naruto asked, fiddling with his chopsticks.

Rias was surprised, she didn't think that they would have talked about this here at the restaurant. Her eyes glanced over at the worker behind the counter and she smiled awkwardly.

"I'm sorry Naruto-san, but this isn't exactly a conversation we can have at a restaurant." Rias said, gesturing discretely to the ramen maker.

Naruto looked back up to the man. He probably shouldn't tell her that the person working was actually a clone of his under a henge. Not too mention the fact that this ramen shop was his and he eats here for free anyway.

Oh well. She doesn't need to know.

He waved her off. "He's okay, I trust him with my life."

"Oh...kay." Rias said staring at the man suspiciously. "What about anyone coming into the shop?" 

"It's technically closed to public, except me."

Rias hesitated. Looking over her shoulder, she could see people walking by the shop, at a respectable distance away.

Rias crossed her legs, and hugged herself under her chest. She smiled slightly. "Well i'll get straight to the point. All of us here, excluding one other is apart of my club. The Occult Research Club. But it's just a hobby of mine, to be honest."

Naruto frowned, _"'Occult Research Club? What does occult mean?"_

"To be frank, Naruto-san. We are all devils."

Naruto's ramen order was placed in front of him, the others getting theirs soon afterwards. He slurped up a few noodles before swallowing. "I already knew that. And the girl and that guy were both 'fallen angels', right?"

"Yes, you learn quickly." Rias complemented, elegantly taking a bite of her own ramen.

Naruto scooped up more noodles. "Fallen angels… what are they? What are you?"

"Fallen angels are angels in the service of god who, as a result of possessing corrupt emotions, have descended into the underworld. They are attempting to wipe us, the devils, out while they manipulate humans. Their counterparts are angels who have not possessed corrupt emotions, that want to wipe out both the fallen angels and us, the devils."

Naruto frowned. "Sounds complicated."

Rias waved her hand, "It is a delicate situation between the three 'Factions' as we call them. Angels being one, fallen angels another, and the devils the last faction. Many political meetings take place to ensure peace between the three factions."

"I doubt there has been peace forever." Naruto stated, if this world is anything like his, there had to have been countless wars. You can't have power, without those who wish to use it, after all.

"You're right. There hasn't been peace forever. In the distant past, there was a war between the three factions, and it almost wiped out the devils. We have very few purebred devils. To gather more devils, we can resurrect humans into what we call peerages. They start as low class devils, and can work their way up to high class or ultimate class devils and can have peerages of their own." The red head explained.

"So you're telling me…" Naruto paused his sentence to scratch his chin, thinking. "That your devil society uses slavery on a regular practice? And only nobles get a peerage? Why do you have one then? What makes you special?"

Rias hummed in approval. "I am born in one of the original 72 noble houses, which we call pillars. 39 of them have gone extinct since our last war. If you belong to one of the Pillars, than you are born a high class devil."

"Of course." Naruto muttered, somewhat bitterly. "Bunch of aristocrats that are born thinking the world owes them something."

Rias smiled sympathetically, getting the vibe that he might not like dealing with nobles. He had some sort of experience it seemed. "Members of a peerage can work they're way up to high class. Usually, to rank up, you must perform admirably during Rating Games, or making contracts with humans, or having some sort of military accomplishment."

"What do you mean 'making a contract with humans'?" Naruto asked.

"We hand flyers out to people and if they feel like making a wish, we will come and grant them." At this, Akeno spoke up, smiling softly.

Issei groaned next to Naruto, "They gave me the whole talk today. I really wish I knew about this before I became a devil, then I could have wished to do all kinds of sexy things." Issei blushed and drooled slightly staring off into space.

Naruto gave him an unamused look. "Keep it in your pants perv. Grown ups are talking."

"Hey!" Issei snapped out of it, and held up a fist at Naruto, who almost smirked.

"Ara ara, you two get along quite handsomely." The ravenette giggled into her hand.

Naruto returned to his noodles. "Better than a lot of people I talk to I guess."

Issei huffed next to him. "I don't see why everyone hates you, Naruto-senpai."

Naruto shrugged, thoughts quickly flashing to his childhood. "Humans like to take their anger and sadness out on something, Erocchi. Might as well be me."

Issei choked on his noodles. After coughing slightly, he turned to Naruto, heated and red faced. Whether it was from the coughing or just being upset, Naruto didn't know. "'Erocchi'?! What the hell?!"

Naruto took a bunch of noodles in his mouth, ignoring the shaking fist. "That's what you are and 'cchi' just makes it sound better."

Naruto smirked at the fuming boy, who merely pouted and returned to his own ramen. This scene somewhat reminded him of someone else… Naruto's eyes softened and he looked back over to the brunette.

A giant sat there instead, whose white hair went to the floor. He turned to Naruto and grinned, the red lines on his face shaping with his cheeks. Naruto smiled sadly, eyes shimmering.

He looked back at his bowl, holding up some noodles to eat. "Ero-jiji… more like baka-jiji…" He muttered to himself.

He could feel the eyes of the others wander over to him. He cleared his throat, hoping to change the subject before they commented on it. "So where do the humans fall into all of this?"

Rias was silent for a second before raising an eyebrow. "Where do they fall? To be honest, they aren't one of the factions."

Naruto paused. "Why not?"

"They simply aren't strong enough." Akeno stated, dabbing her mouth gently with her napkin. "Humans don't generally poses magic, so they physically can't keep up in battle with the three factions. There are times when humans are taught to use magic and are called 'Magicians'. Or they can have something called Sacred Gear."

"I've heard that before…" Naruto started. "Magic. What exactly are you talking about when you say magic?"

"Magic is what we use to create spells, or make us stronger, faster, improve our senses. It's our life force...in a way." Rias explained.

" _Ah, so I guess their magic could be called my chakra."_ Naruto nodded, "I see. And these 'Sacred Gear'? What are those?"

Rias flipped her hair over her shoulder. Naruto looked at his clone and nodded for a second bowl. "Sacred Gear are artifacts that God has created to give to humans. Sacred Gears can come in all shapes and forms, and has the power to do almost anything. Issei has a Sacred Gear called Twice Critical. Or Boosted Gear. It doubles the user's power every ten seconds."

"There are others out there as well. Some Sacred Gear users can control time and space, others might be able to control fire to a perfect extent. It all depends on the Sacred Gear." Rias finished explaining.

Naruto finished his bowl of ramen and waited for the second bowl to come out. "Last question. Why are you telling me all of this?"

Rias and the others looked surprised that he had asked that question. She bit the inside of her cheek gently, trying to think of the best way to describe her curiosity for him.

"The best way to describe it… we can sense that you are strong." Rias started. "Not to mention that I saw you heal Issei to save his life. And Akeno has had a feeling that there is more to you that meets the eye." She finished with a smile at him.

Naruto's eyes drifted over to Akeno. She was smiling at him, her eyes closed. He had no idea what he had done to warrant her attention so, but it wasn't something that he had been expecting. She was...out of his league in every possible way, and he really did his best to hide his presence. What about him could possibly gain her attention?

Naruto nodded before returning to his fresh bowl of ramen that was placed in front of him. He wasn't sure how to respond to that. He wasn't sure if he wanted to respond to it…

So instead, he'll slurp.

 **~~o0O0o~~**

"I never realized that you could have eaten that much ramen." Rias said, holding her head in disbelief. Where had all that food gone? It was like a black hole for satan's sake.

Naruto just shrugged. He knew it was kind of cheap. After all he gets his food free, but he hadn't told Rias that, so she had paid quite a lot for him to eat there.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked up at the night sky. The moon was crescent shaped, and pretty. He often looked up at the moon back at his own home. Back when he fought in a war to defend the world from the moon itself.

He closed his eyes is resignation. Basking in the night air, he couldn't find any reason to move his feet at all towards his home.

"Well Naruto-san, I hope today's lesson was very informative."

Well, there was one reason at least.

He looked over at the red head. Her locks gently swaying in the breeze. If he were a lesser man, he might have acknowledged the beauty she possessed at that moment. The way the shop light tenderly caressed her face, bathing her in sharp contrasts that brought out the brightest and the darkest of her hair color. It was a fascinating transition.

Her teal eyes sparkled in the night, and her smile accompanying it only accentuated the natural curves of her cheeks. Naruto stared for a second longer than he should have. He blinked out of his trance and looked away, towards the road he'd use to walk home.

"It was." He grunted out.

He sighed and stretched his back, arms over his head. He noticed that the others were gathering up their stuff and ready to head home for the night.

"Well I guess i'll be off for the night. Thanks for the ramen." The shinobi threw a wave over his shoulder as he started to walk away from the group, heading home.

He heard a couple say goodbye to him and he tucked his hands into his pockets, lifting the hood over his head again. It was a few steps away when he noticed a second pair of feet next to his own.

Curiously he looked to the side and checked out his company. Akeno was smiling, eyes closed with her hands held behind her back. Unknowingly, or knowingly, it caused her bust to look even a tad more perky.

He stopped walking, looking at her and then looking at the group that was currently walking away form the two of them. He looked back at Akeno who was smiling politely at him, her magenta eyes sparkling with mischief.

"What do you think you're doing?" He muttered, questioningly.

Akeno tilted her head cutely. "Whatever do you mean, Naruto-san?"

"Why are you walking with me, and not your 'king'?"

Akeno hummed, a dainty finger tapping her lips in thought. She was being far too innocent to be sincere, but nonetheless...he found himself amused.

"I wanted to walk you home, since I live in this direction after all."

She was batting her eyelashes at him, a playful smirk tugging at her lips and he could only reciprocate. He sighed and looked away from her forward toward the direction of the park.

"Well let's hope there aren't anymore fights happening in the park this time."

Akeno giggled and mock saluted him. "Aye-aye captain."

 **~~o0O0o~~**

"I can't believe him." Rias groaned, hanging her head slightly. "I can't believe he ate that much ramen."

Koneko peered over at her master, face blank but mind wondering. "You seem to trust him a lot, buchou."

Issei had walked off his own way earlier, stating his own home was close. Rias had felt like taking a little walk with her rook before she retired for the evening.

"I wouldn't necessarily say that I trust him…" Rias voiced, a touch of worry seeping into her words. "But he's a wild card at this point. He had basically brought back Issie from the dead. He is strong, I can feel it. I'd rather him learn about our world from us, instead of someone more...unpleasant."

Koneko didn't say anything as they continued to walk. She would have left already, but she knew her king had wanted to speak with her about the boy. Her evaluation of the newcomer had been vague, and several pieces were still missing.

"Are you thinking about adding him to your peerage?" Koneko asked, curious.

Rias lips tightened. "I would be lying if I said that the thought hasn't crossed my mind…"

Koneko could sense it. "But…?"

Rias laughed humorlessly, seems her rook knew her better than she had thought. "But I'm not sure if I could even turn him."

"You aren't sure?"

Rias stopped walking, looking at the white haired loli intensely. "Have you ever met someone, and felt….small?"

Koneko gave her a blank stare.

"Not physically, but… emotionally." Rias frowned, correcting her words. "I consider myself strong, Koneko. I consider my peerage to be strong as well. I am proud of all of you, but when I was in his presence yesterday...I had felt weak. Insignificant. Meager. It was demeaning and embarrassing."

Rias sighed, continuing to walk. "When I had seen Naruto-san heal Issei...I wanted to run. I instantly could tell that I would have been no match for him. Even around my brother, I've never felt like that before…"

"I'm not sure if Uzumaki Naruto is who we think he is. He must have some sort of Sacred Gear, otherwise he's using magic. Or even a new type of power…" Rias didn't want to think about that possibility. It would bring chaos to the world if any of the faction leaders found out about a human having a significant amount of power.

"Whatever it is, I believe Naruto-san to be stronger than me, and maybe all of us. I don't think I could recruit him into our family. But if I can have him as an ally…" Rias trailed off, letting the small girl finish her thought for her.

Koneko had done a great job of keeping her face schooled into something neutral. She bowed her head, her thoughts on the blonde haired enigma transitioning into apprehension.

"Koneko…"

Koneko looked at the redhead who called her name. Rias had stopped walking again and was now biting her thumb nail, eyebrows furrowed.

"Have you gotten a good scent on Naruto-san?"

Koneko frowned, recalling all of the different smells that she had sniffed out when she had met him in the park. "Naruto-senpai smells...bad."

"Bad?" Rias questioned, looking surprised.

Koneko nodded. "He smells like cigarettes, alcohol, and ramen."

Rias sweatdropped. She had gathered that much from him from few times she had interacted with the blonde.

"And…something else." Koneko added hesitantly.

Rias whirled to face Koneko directly, who was now avoiding eye contact. "What else?"

"He smelled like…" Koneko frown deepened. "...fox."

"Fox?" Rias echoed, jaw slackening. "As in...a youkai?"

Koneko only nodded an affirmative. Rias bit her thumb nail again in thought. "That would explain his ability to create fire, and maybe the whisker marks. But wouldn't he be more foxy?"

"Youkai are masters at shapeshifting, buchou." Koneko reminded.

Rias thought back to when he was healing Issei...Could it be possible for him to be related to the Kyuubi? Was Uzumaki Naruto a youkai? In every way, he had seemed human. But it would make much more sense if he was a kitsune youkai. His ability to create fire, his advanced speed and reflexes, his strength, but what were those eyes? Those cross shaped orange eyes? Those weren't features of a kitsune youkai… He had also healed Issei. Did...did Uzumaki Naruto possess some sort of Sacred Gear as a youkai that allowed him to heal? But such a thing was impossible, only humans were born with Sacred Gear.

Rias's mind flashed back to those orange eyes. The way they had pierced into her soul, intimidating her into a state of near submissiveness. She had never felt a direct pull to claim someone as her leader, but in that instant...if Naruto had asked her to follow him to the ends of the Earth, she might have said yes.

It's odd that a kitsune youkai would be so far out here. They normally reign in the Kyoto district. They're uninvolvement with the factions had let them stay somewhat neutral throughout the whole ordeal.

But was Naruto a kitsune youkai?

If he was, why was he here?

"Buchou?"

Koneko's questioning voice brought her out of her reflection. Rias plastered on a reassuring smile, hoping to snuff out any concern.

"Thank you, Koneko." Rias patted her head. Koneko smiled and leaned into the touch. "That was very helpful of you. I appreciate your input. Now get some rest tonight. We will see each other again tomorrow."

Koneko nodded, stepping away from Rias and summoning a teleportation circle. Rias waved to the younger girl as she disappeared, probably to her own home and bed.

Rias took one last look at the moon, breathing the cool night air deeply. It was a refreshing smell. One that she cherished much, the underworld didn't quite have such a smell as the human world did. She summoned her own teleportation circle and glanced once more at the twinkling night sky.

It really was a beautiful night.

 **~~o0O0o~~**

It was a dark alley.

The slight drip from storm drains and the graffitied dumpster had deterred most from entering such a place. The alley was long. Narrow. It felt smaller the deeper you went into it.

It was here where one could find a doorway. Seemingly normal. It was a metal door, with some gibberish written above the door frame. A black cat sat on top of a garbage can next to the door, it's tail swinging lazily. The green eyes were piercing, like it sat guard.

A figure walked down the alley, stopping in front of the doorway. The figure was of average height, but with broad shoulders. A dark gray cloak covered it's entire visage. The cat studied this figure before closing its eyes and paying it no more attention.

After this one hand lifted up, three fingers curling down and the pointing and middle finger staying erect. It held the fingers upright, near it's chest. The symbols above the door frame glowed red for a moment, before an audible 'click' sounded from the door.

The figure grabbed the handle and pulled backwards, opening up into a coat room.

Despite the appearance of the entrance, the inside was entirely different. Lavish red walls and black marble tiled flooring stretched long and wide hallway. Chandeliers hung from the tall ceiling, spilling light into the corridor. The walls were trimmed with elaborate designs cut into mahogany wood.

The figure walked down the hallway, its boots echoing loudly. At the end of the hallway were two doors. Both of them matched the mahogany trimming. The figure stopped at the right one, grabbing the handle and pushing it open.

The room the person entered was just as luxurious. A grand fireplace grabbed the attention of the room, pale brick placed beautifully. The black marble tile continued into this room as well as the maroon colored walls. There was a sitting area around the fireplace, a glass and steel coffee table placed between the two sofas.

On the other side of the room was a bar, entirely made out of the mahogany. The bar counter was topped with a grey colored granite. The shelves upon shelves of different liquor only added to the look. Besides that, the walls were lined with bookshelves filled with scrolls and books.

There happened to be three occupants in the room as the figure walked in, unhooding themself.

"Hoh?" One of them hummed. He was sitting at the bar with a small glass of liquor in his hand. Based off of its dark color and small cubes of ice, it had to have been something hard. "It's about time you've gotten here. She had called us a while ago."

"Leave the lad alone. If he's slow he's slow. Typical for a fallen angel to be so weak. My Nanna would move faster. Otherwise I would have been ashamed to be born from her daughter." The next figure chuckled. This figure sat on one of the sofas near the roaring fireplace, enjoying the heat.

"You should be mindful of the time. Afterall, you shouldn't keep a lass waiting. They get quite pissy." The same figure by the fireplace smirked at the new comer.

"Pissy?" The only female in the room growled out. "The only thing that makes me 'pissy' are arrogant pricks like you." She turned to the figure by the door. "We've been waiting for you for over two hours. It's quite inconvenient."

The cloaked man bowed his head slightly. "My apologies. My servants had reported something to me last minute that had peaked my curiosity."

The one at the bar raised an eyebrow. "Another potential?"

Taking off his cloak and hanging it on a coat rack, the figure shook his head. "I am unsure. My servant had told me that this… _human_ boy had been interesting." he spat the word human out with much distaste.

"Human?" The female questioned, eyebrow raised. "Either your servant is extremely inadequate or we have a human that's able to fight with a fallen angel."

"Do not underestimate the humans, my precious underlings."

A soft, but commanding voice massed their attention. The four figures tensed and quickly headed over to the new voice. The four of them all kneeled down in front of the woman, heads bowed low.

The first figure spoke up. "Forgive my tardiness, your highness."

The woman walked over to him, placing a pale hand a top of his head, petting it gently. "You are forgiven. For I know of who your servant speaks of."

His gaze lifted a fraction, eyes widening ever so slightly. "You know of this human, your majesty?"

Her hand lifted from his head. She took a few steps down the line, looking at her cohorts bowing before her. "He is the reason why I had called you all here today."

She stepped back from them, putting her hands in her sleeves and smiled ever so gently. "I have located and found the being I had already told you all about. Uzumaki Naruto. Hiding in a small town name Kuoh located in the country Japan."

The female lifted her head. "Uzumaki Naruto is a _human_ , your majesty? How can he be so powerful?"

The standing woman smiled warmly at them. "He is much more powerful that you might think. And for that reason, he must be eliminated. This world… the humans are sick, they are vile. They can not be trusted to make peaceful choices. After all, I have seen the destruction and death they had done to each other in the past. They are like children. They need a mother to teach them the ways of right and wrong. Unlike my home before this, whom have all made the incorrect choices."

"Uzumaki Naruto comes from my first home. He is one of those humans who cannot be trusted. We must eradicate the population of these humans, and start anew. We will rebuild this world, shaping it to the peaceful world I wish to see." The woman finished.

Her pale lavender eyes lifted towards the entrance, as it opened up. She clapped her hands once and the four kneeling generals all stood up. They followed her gaze towards the door, and some of them couldn't stop their mirth.

"My plan can finally be put into motion, for I have completed the undoing of this world. I have created the virus that will thin the herd of naughty children. When that is complete, I will reshape what it means to be human, bringing peace and prosperity to the lands. While we finish this, I will help you all rework the three factions. We shall rebuild the leadership of the fallen angels. And we will rewrite the government of the devils."

A grotesque creature in a glass box was rolled in. It appeared to have a humanoid shape, but the skin was a sickly gray color. Blood seeped from the orifices. It's eyes were rolled up and tight, it's mouth and tongue moving uncontrollably. It was groaning barely audibly.

"That is a disturbing sight. This was a human?" One figure said with disgust, eyeing it contemptuously.

"This was a human, indeed. The virus I have made kills its host, using the body to spread it's infection. The infection is transferable via saliva. And fortunately, this virus only affects humans."

She stepped around the four figures and walked up to the zombie in the glass cage. Its eyes twitched and it lunged at her as she put her hand on the glass, smiling sweetly.

"With this, we will reshape the entire world."

A wicked grin sprouted from her smile, veins bulging from the sides of her eyes on her temples. A third eye opened upon her forehead, it's red contrasted by the dark rings with tomoe rippling towards the center.

"And Uzumaki Naruto will finally fall before me."

 **~~o0O0o~~**

Complete! I'm sorry for everyone who had thought that I uploaded a chapter yesterday! I wanted to get this chapter uploaded yesterday as well, but things came up and I wasn't able to finish writing it. :/ sorry.

If you have any questions or comments, make sure you review! I'll try to respond to them as best as I can without spoiling anything important!

Last of all, if any of you wish to follow my twitter to talk/meme/bother me about my books, or games, or life...the link to my twitter is in my profile at the bottom!

Drop a Follow/Favorite!

Ja Ne


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